Cellphone video from one of 15 Palestinian medics killed last month by Israeli forces appears to contradict Israeli claims that the medics’ vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire on them in southern Gaza.
The footage shows Red Crescent and civil defense teams driving slowly with their emergency vehicles’ lights flashing and logos visible, as they pulled up to help an ambulance that had come under fire. The teams do not appear to be acting unusually or in a threatening manner as three medics emerge and head toward the stricken ambulance.
Their vehicles immediately come under a barrage of gunfire, which goes on for more than five minutes with brief pauses. The person filming can be heard praying.
Photo: Palestinian Red Crescent Society via AP
“Forgive me, mother. This is the path I chose, mother, to help people,” he cried, his voice weak.
Eight Red Crescent personnel, six civil defense workers and a UN staffer were killed in the shooting before dawn on March 23 by Israeli troops conducting operations in Tel al-Sultan, a district of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Troops bulldozed over the bodies along with their mangled vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later to dig out the bodies.
Palestinian Red Crescent Society vice president Marwan Jilani said the phone was found in the pocket of one of its slain staffers.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN distributed the video to the UN Security Council.
The Associated Press obtained the video from a UN diplomat on condition of anonymity because it has not been made public.
One paramedic who survived, Munzer Abed, confirmed the veracity of the video. Two block-shaped concrete structures visible in the video are also seen in a UN video showing the recovery of the bodies from the site — a sign they are in the same location.
Asked about the video, the Israeli military said the incident was “under thorough examination.”
One medic remains missing.
The Israeli military earlier said it opened fire on the vehicles because they were “advancing suspiciously” on nearby troops without headlights or emergency signals.
The initial account of the vehicles not having emergency lights on was mistaken, an Israeli military official told journalists on Saturday evening, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, Younes al-Khatib, called for an independent investigation.
“We don’t trust any of the army investigations,” he told a briefing at the UN on Friday.
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