Video of Gaza medics killed by Israeli fire appears to contradict IDF account

Mobile phone footage has emerged that appears to contradict Israel’s account of an IDF assault that killed 15 Gaza rescue workers.

The video, reportedly recovered from a medic who died in the attack on March 23, shows clearly marked ambulances and a fire truck with their headlights on and emergency lights flashing.

The Israeli military later said its soldiers ‘did not randomly attack’ any ambulances, insisting they fired on ‘terrorists’ approaching them in ‘suspicious vehicles’.

IDF spokesman lieutenant colonel Nadav Shoshani said the emergency vehicles had their lights off, contradicting what can be seen in the video, which was shared earlier today by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

This evening, in response to the footage, an Israeli military official told journalists their account of the vehicles not having emergency lights on was mistaken.

Surviving paramedic Munther Abed had previously told the BBC that the ambulances were clearly marked and had their internal and external lights on.

He also said all crews were civilian and don’t belong to any militant group.

The video starts from inside a moving vehicle driving behind ambulances and a fire truck at night.

The vehicles stop beside another on the roadside, and two uniformed men exit.

The voices of two medics are heard – one saying ‘the vehicle, the vehicle’, and another responding: ‘It seems to be an accident’.

Seconds later intense gunfire erupts, the screen goes black and the person filming can he heard saying prayers.

At one point he also says: ‘Forgive me mother because I chose this way, the way of helping people.’

PRCS said it had found the video on the phone of Rifat Radwan, one of theaid workers who was killed.

In a statement the organisation added: ‘This video unequivocally refutes the occupation’s claims that Israeli forces did not randomly target ambulances, and that some vehicles had approached suspiciously without lights or emergency markings.

‘The footage exposes the truth and dismantles this false narrative.’

After the video was released, and before the Israeli military admitted their initial account of the incident was incorrect, they said ‘all claims, including the documentation circulating about the incident, will be thoroughly and deeply examined to understand the sequence of events and the handling of the situation.’

Those killed in the shooting included eight PRCS staff, six members of the Gaza civil defence agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA.

Their bodies were found buried near Rafah in what the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described as a mass grave.

OCHA has said that the first team was targeted by Israeli forces at dawn on that day. In the hours that followed, additional rescue and aid teams searching for their colleagues were also struck in a series of attacks.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, condemned the attack, saying it raised concerns about possible ‘war crimes’ by the Israeli military.

‘I am appalled by the recent killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian aid workers, which raise further concerns over the commission of war crimes by the Israeli military,’ Turk told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

He called for an ‘independent, prompt and thorough investigation’.

An Israeli military official said the bodies had been covered ‘in sand and cloth’ to avoid damage until coordination with international organisations could be arranged for their retrieval.

More than a thousand Palestinians in Gaza are believed to have been killed by Israeli military since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed on March 18.

According to the UN, at least 408 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the war begun in October 2023, including 280 UN humanitarian personnel.

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