The US State Department on Monday blamed Hamas in response to a question about Israel's execution of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers who were exhumed from a mass grave in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The 15 workers included eight from the Palestinian Red Crescent, five from the Civil Defense, and one UN staff member. Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Palestine, said evidence suggests that the first responders were shot dead by Israeli forces "one by one" and buried with ambulances and other vehicles.

"We bring them out in their uniforms and gloves. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave," Whittall said. "These ambulances were buried in the sand. There's a UN vehicle here, buried in the sand. It was buried by a bulldozer—an Israeli military bulldozer."

When asked about the UN statements at her press conference, US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce immediately blamed Hamas. She said, "I can tell you that Hamas has abused civilian infrastructure for far too long, cynically using it to protect itself. Hamas's actions have put humanitarian workers in the line of fire."

Asked whether the United States would assess the situation given the possibility of Israeli forces using American weapons, Bruce said, "Everything that happens in Gaza is because of Hamas. Every dynamic."

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, each body recovered had been hit by approximately 20 bullets. "The Israeli occupation forces executed the civil defense teams in a brutal manner," said Palestinian Red Crescent Society spokesman Mahmoud Basal.

The Israeli military admitted that its forces fired on ambulances in Rafah, but claimed it was a mistake. The Israeli military claimed that its forces killed Hamas militants during the incident, including a Hamas operative named Mohammed Amin al-Shoubaki. However, the Israeli military provided no evidence, and no other bodies were found at the scene.