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More than 200 health facilities run by the World Health Organization in Afghanistan, providing medical care for 1.84 million people, have closed or ceased operating after the US aid cuts announced by the Trump administration shut off life-saving medical care, including vaccinations, maternal and child health services.On his first day in office in January, President Donald Trump announced an immediate freeze on all US foreign assistance, including more than $40bn (£32bn) for international projects coming from USAID, the United States Agency for International Development. It was later confirmed that more than 80% of USAID programmes had been cancelled.In Afghanistan, where health clinics have closed in 28 out of 34 provinces, this is leading to an “escalating humanitarian crisis”, according to the WHO, with the country already grappling with poverty and outbreaks of diseases such as measles, malaria and polio.Afghanistan has already seen a rise in polio cases due to restrictions imposed by the Taliban on its vaccination programme.Ajyal Sultany, head of communications at WHO in Afghanistan, said: “The closure of health facilities is compounding these crises, with displaced and marginalised communities facing heightened risks of disease, malnutrition, and inadequate medical care.”In the worst-affected regions – north, west and north-east Afghanistan – more than a third of health clinics have now shut down, according to the WHO, with another 220 health facilities expected to close by June due to a lack of funding.In some rural areas, the clinics were the only access the local population had to health services. The problem is compounded by the Taliban’s restrictions on women travelling without a male relative as a “guardian”.View image in fullscreenOther humanitarian organisations are also feeling the strain of US funding cuts across their global programmes. Save the Children reported that it had to close down 18 of its 32 clinics due to funding shortfalls. “The remaining 14 only have enough funding to remain open for another month,” a spokesperson told the Guardian. “These 32 clinics supported over 134,000 children in January alone.”Abdul*, a coordinator for health projects in Herat, western Afghanistan, told the Guardian that his organisation had been forced to close 23 of its facilities, including mobile health teams, after it lost funding in January. It had relied on support from international organisations.“These clinics were located in remote areas of Herat province in nine districts where people did not have access to health services. We covered a population of nearly 120,000, including many women and children, and at least 20,000 new and expecting mothers.“We were able to secure some funding from a different source and temporarily resume four of the clinics,” he said, but most of the people they help remain without any healthcare services.Abdul said local populations had appealed to doctors and healthcare workers to keep the clinics open. “Since the closure, people from these communities have been reaching out to us through religious leaders and shuras [gatherings of tribal elders] asking us to reopen clinics.“Unfortunately, we have tell them, with all transparency, that there is little we can do now,” he said.The WHO said the availability of healthcare for Afghans may now worsen even further. “The termination of US funding may lead other donors to scale back or withdraw their humanitarian assistance,” Sultany said. “This would further exacerbate operational challenges and reduce the capacity to deliver life-saving services.”The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) confirmed it had been forced to close two community resource centres that had been providing housing, food and other support to internally displaced Afghans, with a further two at risk of closure.“I want to emphasise that NRC Afghanistan is not shutting down its operations,” said Suze van Meegen, NRC’s interim director in Afghanistan, but she added: “Due to United States funding suspensions and cuts, NRC has been forced to end some of its programming in Afghanistan.”*Name changed

BANGKOK — The head of Myanmar’s military government arrived in Thailand on Thursday for a regional summit, making a rare international trip as his country recovers from a devastating earthquake that killed thousands.Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has been shunned by much of the West for overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung Saan Suu Kyi and subsequent brutal repression. He has not been allowed to participate in meetings of another regional organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, since the army seized of power in February 2021 and began violently suppressing opposition.He is one of several regional leaders visiting Bangkok for a three-day summit of nations in the Bay of Bengal region.It was Min Aung Hlaing’s first to a country other than his government’s main supporters and backers — China, Russia and Russian ally Belarus — since he attended a regional meeting in Indonesia in 2021.He was greeted upon arrival at the airport by Thai Labor Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn.He was expected to attend an official dinner for leaders of the seven-member Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or BIMSTEC, which includes Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.The meeting comes as Myanmar is still searching for survivors in the rubble left by a massive earthquake last week. The magnitude 7.7 quake toppled thousands of buildings, collapsed bridges and buckled roads. The death toll rose to 3,085 on Thursday, with more than 4,700 people injured and over 300 missing, the military said in a statement.It worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis due to Myanmar’s civil war. More than 3 million people had been displaced from their homes and nearly 20 million were in need even before it hit, according to the United Nations.The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs said BIMSTEC members discussed disaster management during ministerial meetings on Thursday. Thailand postponed the meeting from last year after then-prime minister Srettha Thavisin was suddenly removed from his post by a court.The earthquake killed at least 22 people in Bangkok, mostly due to the collapse of a high-rise building under construction.The general’s visit drew condemnation and criticisms from his opponents. The shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, established by elected lawmakers who were barred from taking their seats, said it strongly condemed the inclusion of Min Aung Hlaing at the summit. It said he doesn’t have the legitimacy to represent Myanmar.The NUG said it urges BIMSTEC to “immediately revoke the military junta’s participation in the summit and related meetings.”Activist group Justice for Myanmar said in a statement that the invitation for Min Aung Hlaing to attend the meeting “legitimises and emboldens a military junta that the people of Myanmar have been resisting for over four years, and tarnishes BIMSTEC’s reputation as a regional body.”The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied Thursday that the invitation had tarnished Thailand’s reputation.“I think the inverse would occur if we don’t adhere to what the charter says and enshrined in the charter it says that Thailand has the responsibility to invite the leaders of all BIMSTEC leaders,” said ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura.Among other leaders attending the summit are Muhammad Yunus, chief advisor to the Bangladesh government, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 10 percent global baseline tariff on almost all imports to the United States, claiming the move marks the “Liberation Day” of the US economy. The policy is, however, as pro-US as the People’s Liberation Army of China. If maintained, the tariffs will prove extremely damaging to the US economy, the American consumer, and the country’s standing in the world.The 10 percent tariff is remarkably the baseline; Trump’s efforts to liberate the US economy include numerous far higher tariffs. One example is his 25 percent tariff on all automotive imports that came into effect on his “Liberation Day”. Trump claims that his policy is aimed at restoring the US manufacturing base, but there is no time to rebuild this capacity at a light-warp speed. Trump, of course, pays such concerns little heed. An identical 25 percent tariff on automotive parts is delayed only for a month and will come into effect in May. Automotive prices will spike, and supply chains will jam up. Advertisement
The US is the most car-dependent major economy – a larger share of voters will be directly hit by the move than in any other Western country. Trump’s March tariffs on Canada and Mexico – the two countries with whom most US automotive manufacturing is integrated – have already caused disruption. There is a near-universal anticipation that prices will rise.
But this trend will play out across numerous other supply chains as well. Many of the closest allies of the US face higher tariffs – goods from the European Union will face a 20 percent blanket tariff. Japanese exports to the US will be taxed at 24 percent. Those from Taiwan, whose supply of chips is so critical to the US technology industry, will be taxed at 32 percent. India and Vietnam, two of the countries to which US supply chains have been most re-routed since Trump’s first administration began with a much sharper focus on the US-Chinese trade imbalance, face a 26 percent and 46 percent tariff, respectively.
The US is ill-prepared for an inflationary shock. It is still fighting off the last inflation shock caused by the “bullwhip” effect from the seizing up of global supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the international economic reverberations of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The inflationary impact of Trump’s tariffs will be felt sooner rather than later, even as some of his team are scrambling to claim there will be negotiations on lowering some of the tariffs. This is because importers and distributors will have to reassess the profitability of the goods they are ordering now. Supply chains may well be further disrupted by countermeasures from the countries affected. Advertisement
While there is no doubt that the era of global free trade that Washington did so much to usher in under previous presidents has seen the country’s share of manufacturing decline, it is the US consumer who has been perhaps the greatest beneficiary of that agenda. They will be the main losers of Trump’s policy.
Trump bemoans the bipartisan consensus that was in place before his rise, deriding the “globalists” who supposedly drove this agenda and, in his view, the stock market’s strong negative reaction to his abrogation from the idea of ever-freer trade. But the great irony is that it was his Republican Party that did the most to drive this agenda forward.
In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan put trade at the centre of his message of prosperity, for both the US and those who would partner with it. Milton Friedman, traditionally an economist highly lauded by conservatives and a Reagan adviser, wrote: “Our tariffs hurt us as well as other countries. We would be benefited by dispensing with our tariffs even if other countries did not … There are few measures we could take that would do more to promote the cause of freedom at home and abroad.”
Reagan’s Democratic opposition were late converts – when Bill Clinton brought the North American Free Trade Agreement before Congress in 1994, more Republican senators voted for it than Democrats. Trump, however, does not plan on having any kind of congressional oversight over his latest plans, however – even where they appear to run counter to free trade agreements with affected countries. Advertisement
However, Congress can still fulfil its role.
Trump’s tariffs rely on relatively thin standing. Namely, he claims he is enacting them out of “national security grounds”. Formally, he justifies them under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The half-a-century-old Act is among the most influential pieces of US legislation in history, as it allows for significant expansion of the power of the executive branch. It sits at the core of the authority to issue sanctions as well as for imposing restrictions on the export of US technology, as well as many of Trump’s previous tariff acts.
For the president to use these powers, however, he must declare an underlying national emergency and provide justification for it. Although it has never done so, Congress does have the power to terminate a national emergency declared under IEEPA through the National Emergencies Act of 1985.
A vote on rescinding has already been held in the US Senate. Hours after Trump announced his tariff onslaught, four Republicans – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and both Kentucky senators, the former majority leader Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul – joined all Democrats in voting for a resolution to rescind the “national emergency” on fentanyl that Trump issued to justify his blanket tariffs on Canada, passing it 51-48. But with this action only the Canadian order, not the similar order underpinning Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, was targeted. This highlights how bleak the political outlook is for the immediate reversal of Trump’s latest, far costlier, tariffs which were enacted on the back of a different “national emergency” tied to trade deficits. Advertisement
Any resolution to rescind Trump’s national emergencies and reverse his tariffs can come into effect only if it withstands his veto, which requires a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The House’s Republican leadership is not expected to allow a vote even on the Senate’s Canada resolution, let alone a future resolution that would affect Wednesday’s tariffs.
Congress today is not geared up to do what is necessary to reverse Trump’s destructive plan.
Some Democrats began to shift away from the embrace of free trade under the Biden administration, recognising that while it had its benefits, it does have its costs too and that a rebalancing is necessary. The Republican Party, on the other hand, had no gradual change of orthodoxy. It has been wholly transformed since Trump came to establish dominance over it eight years ago. It is almost impossible for a two-thirds majority against Trump tariffs to be achieved.
Nonetheless, everything must be done to open the eyes of those in Congress and convince them to do what is right.
The economic costs of Trump’s tariff actions will soon become clear. But as opposition outside Congress mounts – whether that be from the US consumer, stock market, or the courts – Trump will shatter more norms to try to protect his trade agenda.
April 2025 can still herald US liberation, but only if Congress liberates the country from the tyranny of rule by “national emergency”.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

The deaths of a married British couple at their home in the south of France are being treated as a murder – and suicide, according to reports.Andrew Searle and Dawn Kerr, both in their 60s, were found dead in the hamlet of Les Pesquiès in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, Aveyron, on 6 February.Kerr was found lying dead in front of her house partly undressed and with a significant head injury and Searle was found hanged inside.Police launched an investigation to establish whether the couple died as a result of a murder-suicide, or if a third party was involved.The BBC reported that the prosecutor in charge of the case has now told the broadcaster there is no evidence that anybody else was involved in the deaths.It is understood Kerr and Searle were the mother and stepfather of the Scottish actor and musician Callum Kerr, who played PC George Kiss in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, and appeared in Netflix’s Virgin River.A statement posted on Callum Kerr’s social media accounts on 8 February said: “At this time, Callum Kerr and Amanda Kerr are grieving the loss of their mother, Dawn Searle (nee Smith, Kerr), while Tom Searle and Ella Searle are mourning the loss of their father, Andrew Searle.”It asked for the family’s privacy to be respected “during this difficult period”.According to Searle’s LinkedIn page, he was a retired fraud investigator specialising in financial crime prevention who worked at companies including Standard Life and Barclays.A statement issued by French prosecutors in February said: “The two deceased persons, a man and a woman, were the owners of the house in which their bodies were discovered. They were British expatriates, retired, and had been living in Aveyron for five years.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“The first victim, Ms Kerr, has a significant head injury. A box containing jewellery was found near to her, but no item or weapon which could have caused the injuries were located.“Mr Searle, who was found hanged … did not show any visible defensive injuries.”

Hungary is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), its government has announced.

DAKAR, Senegal — Senegal’s parliament approved revisions to a law passed under the former president that granted amnesty for offences committed during deadly opposition protests in the West African country.The law was passed in March 2024, shortly before the presidential election, and granted amnesty for offences by both security forces and protesters during violent demonstrations between 2021 and 2024. Rights group Amnesty International said at least 65 people were killed during the clashes.Rights groups and lawyers criticized the law because it prevented any prosecution of the sponsors and perpetrators of the violence.The protests were triggered by concerns that the president at the time, Macky Sall, was attempting to muzzle his opponents and seek a third term in office despite being prevented by the constitution. Sall denied seeking a third term.The protests were exacerbated by the arrests in 2023 of the top opposition figures Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ousmane Sonko on charges that were largely seen as politically motivated. Faye and Sonko were released in March 2024 after the amnesty law took effect less than two weeks before the presidential election. Faye was catapulted into the presidency when Sonko — who was barred from running due to a previous conviction — backed the political novice and Faye easily beat the candidate backed by Sall.On Wednesday, Senegalese lawmakers adopted a revision of the law removing amnesty for specific crimes including murder, torture and forced disappearance. The measure passed by a vote of 126-20.Aissata Tall Sall, the leader of the opposition coalition Takku Wallu Senegal, criticized the measure as a “law of settling scores that risks further dividing the Senegalese, instead of reconciling them.”“The new law does not seek revenge but justice,” Ismaïla Diallo, a lawmaker for the ruling PASTEF party, said.

San Jose, Costa Rica — Carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death of the teenage son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, authorities in Costa Rica confirmed Wednesday night. They had reported earlier this week that it was suspected, after high levels of the toxic gas were detected in testing of the family’s hotel room.Randall Zúñiga, director of the Judicial Investigation Agency, or OIJ, said they tested the body of 14-year-old Miller Gardner for carboxyhemoglobin, a compound generated when carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in the blood. When carboxyhemoglobin saturation exceeds 50%, it is considered lethal. In Gardner’s case, the test showed a saturation of 64%. “It’s important to note that adjacent to this room is a dedicated machine room, where it’s believed there may be some type of contamination toward these rooms,” Zúñiga said.

Miller Gardner in an undated photo.

New York Yankees / X

The head of the Costa Rican judicial police added that, during the autopsy, a “layer” was detected on the young man’s organs, which forms when there is a high presence of the poisonous gas. 

Miller Gardner died on March 21 while staying with his family at a hotel on the Manuel Antonio beach in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific.The family said in a statement that he died in his sleep.In a statement earlier this week, the hotel where the family had been staying, the Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort, said it was “heartbroken by the tragic loss that recently occurred on our premises,” and said, “We are diligently cooperating with the Costa Rican judicial authorities, who have taken over the investigation. We trust that the forensic process will objectively, clearly, and conclusively clarify the causes of this unfortunate incident.”Asphyxiation was initially thought to have caused his death, but after an autopsy was performed by the Forensic Pathology Section, that theory was ruled out. A previous line of investigation also looked into whether the family had suffered food poisoning. Family members had reported feeling ill after dining at a nearby restaurant on the night of March 20 and received treatment from the hotel doctor.

OIJ Director Rándall Zúñiga said the death investigation was “closely coordinated” with the FBI.Brett Gardner, 41, was drafted by the Yankees in 2005 and spent his entire major league career with the organization. The speedy outfielder batted .256 with 139 homers, 578 RBIs, 274 steals and 73 triples in 14 seasons from 2008-2021.

Athens, Greece – Greece on Wednesday became the first European Union member to take advantage of relaxed spending rules for defence, announcing a 25bn-euro ($27bn) multi-year rearmament programme.The centrepiece of the programme was a multi-layered defence system called the Shield of Achilles, which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament was “essentially a dome combining existing air defences with new systems, offering protection on five levels – anti-missile, anti-ballistic, anti-aircraft, anti-ship, anti-submarine and anti-drone”.
It was Greece’s first multi-year, comprehensive rearmament, and was part of a broader overhaul of the armed forces called Agenda 2030.
Mitsotakis described the shift as the “most drastic transformation in the history of the country’s armed forces”.
As the world is changing at an “unpredictable pace”, he said, “We are now facing a different kind of war than we were used to – at least the kind our armed forces were prepared for.”
Greece is a consistent high defence spender due to its adversarial relationship with Turkiye, and is this year set to spend 3 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. Advertisement
That is significantly above the European average of 1.9 percent, as estimated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Amid a Russian war in Europe and contentious United States fidelity to NATO, the EU last month decided to raise up to 650bn euros ($705bn) in off-the-books additional defence spending.
Europe’s total defence spending in 2023 was $569bn.
The EU also offered member states 150bn euros ($163bn) in low-interest loans to strengthen European defence industries.
Kiowa helicopters fly during a military parade marking Greece’s Independence Day, in Athens, Greece, on March 25, 2025 [Louiza Vradi/Reuters]
Front-line states Greece and Poland fought hard for the relaxed fiscal rules, and Mitsotakis went further in parliament.
“The Greek government believes that at some point Europe needs to create a fund focused on shared [defence] benefits such as a European anti-missile shield that will cover all European countries and can be funded by European grants to member states, not loans. But we are not there yet,” Mitsotakis said.
Mitsotakis’s reasoning was that Brussels could raise money more cheaply than most individual member states, so underwriting collective debt was more cost-effective than borrowing individually.
The EU issued its first mutualised debt during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, creating a 730bn-euro ($805bn) stimulus fund.
Its 150bn-euro ($165bn) rearmament fund, called Security Action for Europe (SAFE) is made of money left over in that fund. Advertisement
From bankruptcy to European autonomy
Greece has traditionally bought mostly US weapons, but its bankruptcy in the post-2008 global financial crisis has catalysed a more pro-European trajectory.
Years of austerity halved its defence budget to $4.6bn by between 2010 and 2014. Meanwhile, Turkiye’s economy and defence budgets grew.
As it rearmed on carefully balanced budgets, Greece decided to replace quantity, where it could no longer compete with Turkiye, with quality, and sought more sophisticated weapons systems.
The US did not oblige, wanting to maintain a balance between its two east Mediterranean allies, so Greece migrated towards European systems Turkiye did not have.
That helped make it an early convert to the cause of European strategic autonomy championed by France’s President Emmanuel Macron.
In September 2019, Greece announced it would buy 18 French Rafale fighter-bombers for $2.5bn, and raised that number to 24 a year later.
In 2021, Greece penned a strategic defence treaty with France, ordering three state-of-the-art Belharra frigates from France’s Group Naval for 2.26bn-euro ($2.5bn), with an option for a fourth.

PM Mitsotakis hailed the agreement in parliament as the cornerstone of an independent European defence policy.
“The defence of European interests in the Mediterranean now acquires new substance,” Mitsotakis told parliament four years ago. “If attacked, our country will have at its side the most powerful military on the continent, the sole European nuclear power.” Advertisement
All 24 Rafales were delivered in record time, and the first frigate, originally laid down for the French navy, is to be delivered this year.
The Belharra carry French-made weapons and radar from MBDA, Thales and Dassault. Those include the Aster-30 hypersonic, surface-to-air missiles, capable of travelling at four and a half times the speed of sound and striking aircraft, drones and guided ballistic missiles, MU90 torpedoes, the latest 200km-range (124-mile) Exocet antiship missiles and the Thales Sea Fire radar.
The Rafale also carry French weapons, including 100km-range (60 mile) Meteor air-to-air missiles and 500km-range (310 mile) air-to-surface Scalp EG missiles.
Last September, Greek Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias said the second, third and fourth Belharra frigates would also carry the SCALP Naval strategic missile, with a range of more than 1,000km (620 miles).
None of these weapons have been sold to Turkiye, although the United Kingdom, a part of the MBDA consortium, now seeks to sell the Meteor missile to Ankara.
“After 1976, we had the 7:10 rule,” said Angelos Syrigos, a professor of international law at Panteion University in Athens, referring to a US pledge to supply Greece and Turkiye according to fixed proportions.
“That permeated all systems. In recent years this has changed. We don’t seek a proportionality but a qualitative edge. The SCALP and Meteor missiles are qualitative advantages on the Greek side,” he told Al Jazeera.
A top priority for Greece is to build up its own defence industrial base, and 12 percent of the Belharra contracts go to Greek companies. Dendias said he aimed to put Greek companies in a consortium building the European Patrol Corvette as well. Advertisement
But Greece is not turning its back on the US.
In 2018, Greece penned a $1.3bn deal with the US’s Lockheed Martin to upgrade 85 of its F-16 fighter jets to Viper level, installing advanced radar and weapons systems on board.
Last year it ordered 20 fifth-generation F-35 planes from Lockheed Martin, and wants Greek companies to co-develop the next-generation US Constellation frigate.
“Greece is obliged to balance between the US and Europe in defence, because that better consolidates its position,” Konstantinos Filis, a professor of international relations at the American College of Greece, told Al Jazeera. “It cannot be one-track. And the EU and US also need Greece, because it’s in an area of strategic interest to both.”

23 MarchAt 4.20am, a Red Crescent ambulance on its way to collect people injured by an airstrike in Rafah comes under Israeli fire in Hashashin. Two paramedics are killed.A survivor, Munther Abed, is detained and interrogated. A few hours later, a convoy including ambulances, a fire truck, health ministry vehicles and a UN car is dispatched to recover the bodies of the two paramedics. It also comes under fire. Two health ministry vehicles drive away but contact is lost with the rest of the convoy. Two ambulances sent from Rafah also disappear.Six days earlier, Israel had ended a two-month-old ceasefire and resumed its military campaign against Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza with heavy aerial bombing and ground operations.24 MarchGaza’s civil defence agency says it has not heard from the missing people. Access to the site is blocked by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).26 MarchA convoy of vehicles carrying officials from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) tries and fails to access the site. While en route, the Ocha team see a woman being shot, the bullet hitting her in the back of the head, and a man who is trying to retrieve her also being shot. The woman’s body is recovered and put into a UN vehicle.27 MarchThe Ocha team finally make it to the site. They report finding the ambulances, the UN vehicle and the fire truck crushed and partially buried. The body of a civil defence worker is recovered from under the fire truck, but the recovery mission has to withdraw as the situation becomes unsafe.28 MarchThe civil defence agency says it has accessed the site and found the body of its team leader there, as well as an ambulance and the Red Crescent’s fire truck, which it says has been “reduced to a pile of scrap metal”.30 MarchOcha officials and Red Crescent workers return to the site and find the bodies of eight Red Crescent workers, the five other civil defence responders and one UN staff member buried in a mass grave. A ninth Red Crescent worker remains unaccounted for.The crushed UN vehicle and the fire truck can be seen in photographs taken at the scene.View image in fullscreenView image in fullscreenIn a video filmed at the scene, Jonathan Whittall, the head of Ocha in Palestine, says the dead were shot “one by one” then buried in a mass grave.31 MarchThe burials are postponed pending autopsies. The head of Ocha, Tom Fletcher, says the dead were found buried by their wrecked and well-marked vehicles. “They were killed by Israeli forces while trying to save lives,” Fletcher says. “We demand answers and justice.”The IDF claims its soldiers opened fire on the vehicles because they were “advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals” and alleges, without providing evidence, that Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were among those killed. None were reported to be in the mass grave.1 AprilTwo witnesses tell the Guardian that some of the bodies recovered from the grave had had their hands or feet tied, suggesting they were shot after being detained. A Red Crescent official says Israeli soldiers could be heard – over a phone line that was open to one of the paramedics at the time of the convoy shooting – ordering restraints to detain apparent survivors from the convoy.2 AprilA forensics consultant who examined five of the bodies says there is evidence of execution-style killing in some cases based on the “specific and intentional” location of shots taken at close range. The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, says Gaza has become the world’s most dangerous place for humanitarian workers and calls for those responsible for the killings to be held accountable.3 AprilThe Israeli military says it is investigating the killings. It maintains that “terrorists” were advancing in the ambulances.Abed, the survivor, tells the Guardian he was detained and beaten and had to watch as one ambulance and rescue vehicle after another approached the scene and came under intense gunfire. He says he witnessed the wreckage being buried by military bulldozers, and that he saw the missing Red Crescent worker, Assad al-Nassara, alive and in Israeli detention. After several hours of Israeli interrogation Abed was released and left to walk homewards.