The Israeli army has described its murder of 15 emergency workers in Gaza and burying them and their vehicles as a “professional error.”
The bodies of 14 humanitarian workers were found in a massive grave with their crushed vehicles a week after being under the Israeli fire at the end of March. A body had a leg found a few days before.
The army said that the bodies with fabric and sand had “wrapped” to protect them until humanitarian organizations could recover them.
Israel had blocked access to the site for days, then insisting that it was not an attempt to cover up the attack.
This is what you should know about the attack, Israel’s claims and how research is compared to other evidence:
What happened to the workers and emergency vehicles in Gaza?
- March 23: Around 4 am (01:00 GMT), an ambulance of the Palestinian Red Media Society (PRCS) was sent to join a previous one that helped sworn persons in an Israeli air strike in the area of Rafah’s Al-Haeshin.
- The contact was lost with him, and the first ambulance returns to find him around 5 am the paramedics did on the radio that they could see casualties on the ground on the road to such as-to, another area in southern Gaza.
- Two more ambulances were sent together with a firefighter truck and other emergency vehicles. They arrived under Israeli shots for more than five minutes. Minutes later, the soldiers also fired a United Nations car that stopped at the scene. The PRC lost contact with their team.
- March 24: The Israeli army blocked access to the attack site.
- March 27-28: The United Nations and Palestinian officials get limited access to the area, recovering the vehicles and bodies of a Gaza Civil Defense member.
- March 30: The bodies of five civil defense responders, a UN employee and eight RPC workers are in a superficial tomb. A ninth worker of the PRCs, Assaad al-Nasesra, is being made by Israel, confirmed the PRCs later. In total, Israel killed 15 emergency workers in the attack.
What showed video evidence?
A video that is on the telephone of the murdered paramedic rifo Radwan shows the final moments of the team.
The video, filmed from inside one of the last two ambulances to exit, shows a fire and ambulances truck that lead at night.
All vehicles were clearly identified with emergency lights flashing.
The vehicles stopped when they see an ambulance and bodies next to the road, and first responds with reflective uniforms leaving the vehicles. Moments later, intense shots explode.
As the shots continue, you can listen to Radwan asking for forgiveness to her mother and reciting the declaration of Islamic faith, the Shahada, before she dies.
What did Israeli research say?
After a review, the Israeli army described the murders as “professional failures” and a “misunderstanding.” No one has been accused.
He dismissed an attached commander for “providing an incomplete report” and rebuked an officer in command.
Major general Yoav Har-Aven, who made the review, said that two responders were killed in an initial incident, 12 people died in a second shooting and another person died in a third incident.
“The fire in the first two incidents resulted from a misunderstanding of the troops, which believed that they faced a tangible threat of the enemy forces. The third incident implied a violation of the orders lasting a combat environment,” said the military statement.
The troops razed the bodies and their shattered vehicles, but the investigation said it was not an attempt to hide the attack.
The military lawyer’s body, destined to be an independent body under the attorney general of Israel and the Supreme Court, can now decide whether to present civil positions.
How did Israel explain the ambulances?
The research report said that Saids did not recognize the ambulances due to “bad night visibility” and because the flashing lights are less visible in night vision and glasses.
He also blamed the attached commander now distracted, saying that Hamas erroneously used the ambulance and opened fire first.
Israel has tried to justify attacks prior to protected entities saying that Hamas hides among civilians and uses ambulances to carry out operations.
Har-even told journalists that one of the humanitarian workers on the scene was questioned about Hamas suspended links. The man, Munther Abed, was released the next day.
Before the attack video was found, Israel’s army had said that the ambulances had been “advancing in suspicion” towards their soldiers “without headlights or emergency signals.”
How did Israel shoot uniformed stockings?
The first to respond were “in their uniforms, who still used gloves” when they were killed, said Jonathan Whittall, the UN Office Chief for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCA) in the Palestinian territory.
Gaza’s civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said several team members were found with tied hands and feet and gunshot wounds in the head and torso, indicating that the country was executed at a short distance after identified as humanitarian workers.
Without offering evidence, the Israeli research report said that six of those killed were “Hamas members.” Allante did not report that the Palestinian combatants were not found in the tomb of the dough.
Har-even told journalists that no paramedic was armed and that no weapons were found in any vehicle.
An Israeli military official said that the bodies had covered “in sand and cloth” to preserve them until their recovery could coordinate with international organizations.
The Army also said that “it has not found evidence to support the statements of execution” and “such statements are free of blood and false accusations against [Israeli] Soldiers
How thorough Israel is investigated?
Human rights groups and international legal experts said that Israel’s self -assessments of lack of independence and transparency.
Israel said he reviews the conduct of his military through internal probes led by his general military defender, who decides whether to conduct criminal investigations.
But the army has a history of denying irregularities, contradicting ITELF or blaming low -ranking individuals without broader repercussions by the armed forces.
In 2022, he said that Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by the Palestinian fire until several media investigations discredited him. Israel then admitted that he may have triggered “accidentally”, but ruled out a criminal investigation.
In January, the main prosecutor of the International Criminal Court went to seek orders of trial for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing Israel’s failure in genuinely investigating the accusations of war crimes.
How have critics responded?
PRC and the Organization of Israeli rights that break the silence have rejected the findings of Israeli research.
“It is incomprehensible why the occupation soldiers buried the bodies of the paramedics,” said the president of the PRCs, Young al-Khatib, to Al Aaby TV.
He said that evidence as the video demonstrated “the false hood of the narrative of the occupations,” he added that The Israeli army communicated with the paramedics before killing them.