The Israeli army on Saturday acknowledged that the preliminary accounts from troops concerned within the killing final month of 15 individuals in southern Gaza — who the United Nations mentioned have been paramedics and rescue employees — had been partially “mistaken.”
The evaluation, which was shared in a briefing with reporters by an Israeli army official, got here the day after a video obtained by The New York Occasions appeared to contradict the army’s earlier model of occasions. The official spoke on the situation of anonymity beneath military guidelines.
The Israeli army official mentioned the interior investigation of the assault, which has drawn worldwide scrutiny and condemnation, is ongoing.
Briefing reporters on Saturday night time on the army’s preliminary findings, the official mentioned forces from a reserve infantry brigade had been mendacity in ambush alongside a highway to the north of the Gazan metropolis of Rafah within the pre-dawn hours of March 23 and, at 4 a.m., had killed what he described as two Hamas safety personnel and detained a 3rd one.
Two hours later, as daybreak was breaking, a convoy of ambulances and a hearth truck approached the identical spot. The Israeli forces have been nonetheless on the bottom and obtained a report from a surveillance plane that the convoy was shifting towards them, the official mentioned. When the rescue employees arrived and left their autos, he mentioned, the forces believed that extra Hamas operatives had arrived and opened hearth on the occupants of the autos from afar.
The Israeli army had beforehand asserted, repeatedly and erroneously, that the autos have been “advancing suspiciously” towards the troops “with out headlights or emergency indicators.”
The video obtained by The Occasions reveals that the approaching ambulances and hearth truck have been clearly marked and had their emergency sign lights on when Israeli troops hit them with a barrage of gunfire.
The army official briefing reporters on Saturday didn’t supply a proof for the contradiction, apart from to say that the preliminary account from forces on the bottom had been “mistaken.”
The army official mentioned that Israel believes a minimum of six of the 15 have been Hamas operatives, however didn’t instantly present any proof, citing the labeled nature of the intelligence work concerned within the identification course of. In latest days, the army had repeatedly asserted that 9 of these killed had been militants belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Crimson Crescent, the Worldwide Committee of the Crimson Cross and the United Nations have beforehand mentioned all of these killed have been humanitarian employees who ought to by no means have come beneath assault.
On March 30, rescue groups discovered 15 our bodies, most in a shallow mass grave together with their crushed ambulances and a automobile marked with the U.N. brand. The video obtained by the Occasions was found on the cellphone of a paramedic who was present in that mass grave.
The Israeli official declined to touch upon whether or not any of these killed had been armed. He mentioned Hamas operatives in Gaza typically didn’t put on army uniforms and that Israel had seen them posing as civilians, hiding in hospitals and college buildings.
The killings have drawn worldwide scrutiny for the reason that 15 individuals first went lacking. The United Nations and the Palestine Crimson Crescent Society mentioned the help employees had not been carrying weapons and posed no risk. The president of the Palestine Crimson Crescent Society, Dr. Younis Al-Khatib, mentioned that the our bodies had been “focused from a really shut vary.”
Palestine Crimson Crescent Society officers mentioned final week that ambulances had set out round 3:30 a.m. on March 23 to evacuate Palestinian civilians wounded by Israeli shelling however that an ambulance and its crew had been hit on the best way.
A number of extra ambulances and a hearth truck headed to the scene over the subsequent few hours to rescue them, in line with the society, as did a U.N. automobile, the United Nations mentioned. Seventeen individuals have been dispatched in whole, of whom 10 have been Crimson Crescent employees, six have been emergency responders from Gaza’s civil protection and one was a U.N. employee.
The Crimson Crescent mentioned one medic was nonetheless lacking and that one had been detained by Israeli forces after which later launched.
