GAZA: Umm Rifaat Radwan, the mother of a Gaza medic killed alongside 14 colleagues by Israeli soldiers, had hoped her son’s body would not be among those retrieved after the attack.
Rifaat Radwan was part of a team of medics and rescuers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society and Gaza’s civil defense agency who were shot dead on March 23 near Rafah as they responded to calls for help after an Israeli air strike.
Their deaths sparked international condemnation and renewed scrutiny over the risks aid workers face in Gaza, where war has raged since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered Israel’s military campaign.
Israel’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, has ordered an investigation into the March 23 incident.
The bodies of the 15 emergency personnel were discovered buried in the sand days later, and were recovered in two separate operations, the United Nations and the Red Crescent said.
“They began pulling them out two by two” from a hole, Umm Rifaat, 48, told AFP, describing how the bodies were retrieved from what rescuers called a “mass grave.”
“I thought maybe he wasn’t among them — perhaps he had been detained. I even prostrated after the afternoon prayer in gratitude.
“Then my husband told me that Rifaat had been found inside the hole,” she said.
The 23-year-old Rifaat and his family hailed from Rafah, but had been displaced during the war to the central Gazan city of Deir el-Balah.
On March 23, he and the 14 others were killed in the Tal Al-Sultan area near Rafah, in what the sole survivor of the attack, Mundhir Abed, described as a violent ambush by Israeli forces.
Abed told AFP earlier that the team was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the early morning.
Umm Rifaat, wearing a long black abaya and veil exposing only her eyes, spoke with quiet composure as she recalled the moment her worst fears were confirmed.
Some of the bodies recovered by rescuers had been handcuffed, according to the Red Crescent, but an Israeli military official denied this.
On Thursday, government spokesman David Mencer repeated Israel’s claim that “six Hamas terrorists” were among the dead.
“What were Hamas terrorists doing in ambulances?” he asked.
The Israeli attack appears to have occurred in two phases.
Rifaat himself partly captured video and audio of the second assault on his convoy of ambulances and a firetruck before he was killed.
The Israeli military official told journalists that soldiers who were in the area received a report about a convoy “moving in the dark in a suspicious way toward them” without headlights, prompting them to fire at the vehicles from a distance.
“They thought they had an encounter with terrorists,” the official said.
But Rifaat’s video, released by the Red Crescent, contradicted this account.
The footage from the phone found on Rifaat’s body shows ambulances moving with their headlights and emergency lights clearly switched on.
“He proved his innocence with his own hands, that he is innocent in the face of the (Israeli) army’s allegations,” Rifaat’s mother said.
“What happened to them is beyond the mind’s comprehension. It is unacceptable by any measure — legal, religious or human.”
Speaking to AFP from the displaced family’s makeshift shelter in Deir el-Balah, Umm Rifaat scrolled through photos of her son on her phone.
Her husband recalled the passion with which Rifaat worked as a paramedic.
“Every day he came home from work with his clothes stained in blood,” Anwar Radwan said, adding that his son had volunteered to do the job after the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.
“He never sought a salary — this was rather a calling he loved with all his blood and soul. What drove him was simply his humanity,” Rifaat’s father said.
“He loved helping people,” added Umm Rifaat.
His father saw Rifaat’s body and told Umm Rifaat that their son’s face had been “deformed.”
She chose not to see the body, preferring instead to preserve her memory of him as he was in life.
“He was like the moon — handsome and fair-skinned,” Umm Rifaat said.

MUMBAI: The UAE and India signed eight Memorandums of Understanding on Thursday across a broad range of sectors including infrastructure, healthcare, higher education, logistics and maritime services.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Dubai’s crown prince and UAE defense minister, and Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal witnessed the signing at an event organized by Dubai Chambers in Mumbai.

Sheikh Hamdan, who is on his first official visit to India, said the two nations were “bound by a deep-rooted friendship and a shared dedication to shaping the future through innovation, opportunity, and sustainable growth.”

He added they “continue to build on a strong foundation of trust and collaboration,” guided by the vision of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India.

“These MoUs broaden and deepen our strategic partnership in line with our mutual commitment to creating resilient economies, empowering communities, and advancing knowledge, technology and human development. Together, we are advancing a model of international cooperation that delivers real impact and long-term benefits for the people of our two countries,” said Sheikh Hamdan.

Dubai Chambers signed three MoUs with leading Indian business bodies — the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the Indian Merchants’ Chamber — to support mutual market expansion, facilitate networking and promote participation in trade missions and exhibitions.

The agreements aim to boost information-sharing and enhance bilateral trade.

DP World signed two MoUs — one with Rail India Technical and Economic Service to develop advanced, tech-enabled supply chains and multimodal logistics infrastructure through the UAE-India Virtual Trade Corridor, and another between Drydocks World and Cochin Shipyard to jointly develop ship repair clusters in Kochi and Vadinar.

In the education sector, Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad to establish a new campus in Dubai. The facility will initially open in Dubai International Academic City, with plans for a permanent campus by 2029.

Healthcare collaboration was also a major focus. Dubai Health and key business figures from both countries signed an MoU to establish the UAE-India Friendship Hospital in Dubai, a philanthropic project offering inclusive healthcare services.

Additionally, Dubai Medical University and the All India Institute of Medical Science signed a cooperation agreement to facilitate joint research, academic exchange and collaboration in digital health and artificial intelligence applications in medicine.

Sheikh Hamdan said the continued growth in trade, investment and cooperation between the UAE and India highlighted the “strategic depth of the relationship” and the “vast potential” of their collaboration.

He added: “We look forward to accelerating progress in sectors that matter most for our collective future, building on the strong momentum we have achieved through frameworks like the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and the Bilateral Investment Treaty.”