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International pressure forces Israel to change account of Gaza medics’ killing.

by Daily Sabah with Agencies, ISTANBUL Apr 06, 2025

The Israeli military was forced to revise its initial account of last month’s deadly strike that killed 15 emergency workers near Rafah after incriminating video footage of the incident was released by the Palestinian Red Crescent.

It has released new details while acknowledging that investigations into the incident are still ongoing.

The 15 paramedics and emergency responders were shot dead on March 23 and buried in a shallow grave where their bodies were found a week later by officials from the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Another man is still missing.

The military initially said soldiers had opened fire on vehicles that approached their position “suspiciously” in the dark without lights or markings. It said they killed nine Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, who were traveling in Palestinian Red Crescent vehicles.

But video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the dead men and published by the Palestinian Red Crescent showed emergency workers in their uniforms and clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks, with their lights on, being fired on by soldiers.

The only known survivor of the incident, Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic Munther Abed, also said he had seen soldiers opening fire on clearly marked emergency response vehicles.

An Israeli military official said late Saturday the investigators were examining the video and conclusions were expected to be presented to army commanders Sunday.

He claimed the initial report received from the field did not describe lights but that investigators were looking at “operational information” and were trying to understand if this was due to an error by the person making the initial report.

“What we understand currently is that the person who gives the initial account is mistaken. We’re trying to understand why.”

Israeli media briefed by the military reported that troops had identified at least six of the 15 dead as members of Palestinian resistance groups.

However, the official declined to provide any evidence or detail of how the identifications were made, saying he did not want to share classified information.

“According to our information, there were … there but this investigation is not over,” he told reporters at the briefing late Saturday………………………………………………………………………………………..

The U.N. confirmed last week that it had been informed of the location of the bodies but that access to the area was denied by Israel for several days.

It said the bodies had been buried alongside their crushed vehicles – clearly marked ambulances, a fire truck and a U.N. car.https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/intl-pressure-forces-israel-to-change-account-of-gaza-medics-killing

April 7, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Atrocities