A senior Australian educator says he has no hope that "justice will be served" after his relative was found in a mass grave with other Palestinian emergency workers killed by Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza.
Sami Muamar, the head of secondary school at the Islamic College of Brisbane, said he learned via a family WhatsApp group that Salih Mahmood Muamar was among the dead in an incident that has provoked international condemnation and demands for an independent investigation.
Salih was among eight paramedics with the Palestinian Red Crescent whose remains were found — along with six Gaza civil defence service workers and a United Nations official — buried near Tel al-Sultan outside Rafah on March 30.
Mr Muamar said his cousin was married to Salih's brother — and the paramedic had financially supported her since 2014, when an Israeli air strike on a family farm killed her husband and three other relatives.
The Israel Defense Forces initially claimed that its soldiers on March 23 had killed nine "terrorists", including a Hamas militant who took part in the 2023 massacre and abduction of Israeli civilians which led to the bombardment and invasion of Gaza.
But the emergence of a video which appears to contradict the IDF account has prompted an internal Israeli military investigation, amid demands from the UN and countries including Australia for a probe led from the outside.
More tragedy for paramedic's family
Mr Muamar said tragedy struck the family again on Sunday, when an Israeli air strike on a tent camp in the city of Khan Younis killed 10 people including a journalist.
"[Salih's] mum, his wife, his kids, were beside the tent. His cousin Douha died. Eight years old. His wife, she's paralysed," he said.
Mr Muamar said relatives in Gaza had "become numb" to the deaths within the extended family, which numbered more than 120 since Israel's assault on Gaza began 18 months ago.
"I think they are stunned right now. You know, actually, they don't feel anything… and that's what scares me," he said.
The IDF had claimed its soldiers had opened fire on vehicles that had approached in a "suspicious" manner without lights or sirens.
But video taken from the phone of one of the dead paramedics showed the convoy of ambulances, fire trucks and a UN vehicle were clearly marked and had lights flashing.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has rejected claims any of the dead were militants, while a UN human rights chief said the killings "raise further concerns over the commission of war crimes by the Israeli military".
The IDF on Monday announced a follow-up investigation.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong's office has told the ABC that the "deaths of humanitarian workers in Gaza are unacceptable" and that "those responsible must be held accountable" through a "thorough and independent investigation".
Mr Muamar, who grew up in Khan Younis, 15 minutes' drive from the scene of the killings but left Gaza more than two decades ago, said family members described Salih as "a really good kid [whose] heart is clean".
"He just wanted to help and assist humanity, basically," he said.
"We consider it is a patriotic act to be a teacher, to be a doctor, to be a paramedic — and that's what he chose.
"Even when [his] mum and dad said, look, it is really dangerous right now, we don't want you to do it — he said, no, it's my duty."
Salih's family spent 10 days wondering what had happened to him after he failed to return from an operation assisting people who were reportedly injured in shelling near Rafah, Mr Muamar said.
"The family doesn't know what's happening. Is he still alive? Is he dead? Is he kidnapped? Is he a detainee? Nobody knows."
They learned Salih's fate on the day of Eid, "which is like Christmas Day here", Mr Muamar said.
The whole family went to collect his body from the European Hospital in Khan Younis, "cleaned him up, and they buried him".
Mr Muamar said Israel's pledge to investigate the 15 deaths, including Salih's, "means nothing to me".
"I don't believe anything that comes from Israel," he said.
"I have no hope. I know justice is not served. I know justice will not be served."
He said he had no issue with the elimination of Hamas in the wake of its October 7 atrocities — in which 1200 Israelis were killed — but Gaza had become a 21st century "slaughterhouse".
"I understand the retaliation of Israel, I really do. But to that level is… yeah," he said.
Mr Muamar said he struggled to understand why European and Arab countries — and Australia — were not stronger in their calls to end the bloodshed — with a death toll exceeding 50,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
"I'm not asking them to blame Israel. I don't want them to condemn Israel," he said.
Sleep together, 'die together'
Deaths in the family have become a grim monotony.
Mr Muamar said his sister Hind, a teacher in Gaza, survived an air strike three months ago.
"Everywhere she breathed dust, she talked dust."
But her husband, a doctor, had a brother and his family "wiped totally".
"I did not even say condolence to him, because what am I supposed to say? We just look at each other, say, yep, keep going, you know what I mean."
During an interview with the ABC, Mr Muamar spoke on the phone to Hind in Gaza.
They keep their things packed in bags, ready to flee at a moment's notice.
Hind told her brother: "Every single day, I look at my daughters, are they really alive or not? Are they really alive? And I just keep touching them."
Mr Muamar said they slept "all together, so if they die, they die all together".
His teenage niece, Reema, told the ABC she always felt "terrified when I wake up from sleep, and the war is still going on".
"I always dream terrifying nightmares. Whenever a bomb [hits] a building, I feel like my heart will pump at any time," she said.
Asked about her future, Reema said: "I will be a doctor. That's my dream."
"[But] the first thing, I will leave the Gaza Strip, because not any safety here… war on one hand and famine on other hand."
She said she no longer saw friends, speaking to them only through social media, and the family was getting by "eating rice, hummus. We [haven't] found any bread to eat".
The teenager reverted to Arabic, asking her uncle to relay in English a story she wanted to share with the ABC.
She said on a day her parents were both at work, three policemen directing traffic on the street below her balcony were eviscerated in a rocket attack.
"Everybody was screaming. I cannot see anything. I called mum. My mum told me to leave the house immediately. While I was leaving, I've seen the body parts," she said.
"It was absolutely terrifying to see the bodies and then the blood. I just kept running, screaming, didn't know where I was going until I met my mum. And we did not sleep for two days in the house.
"I just want to get what's in my heart to somebody… I just want somebody to take my voice and tell them we are really innocent."
