It’s virtually 5 a.m. on March 23 in Rafah, southern Gaza. Two Crimson Crescent medics are out trying to find a lacking ambulance crew. Driving is Asaad al-Nasasra and sitting beside him and filming is Rifaat Radwan. Each have labored with the Crimson Crescent for years. Rifaat worries their lacking colleagues have come beneath assault. They haven’t heard from them for an hour. They may quickly uncover that Israeli troopers have fired on the crew, killing two of them. Earlier than lengthy, Rifaat may even be killed together with 12 different workers from the Crimson Crescent, Civil Protection and the United Nations. The New York Instances obtained Rifaat’s footage and reconstructed second by second how this unprovoked assault unfolded. We synchronized his video with one other telephone recording from the scene. We reviewed post-mortem reviews and pictures of the our bodies and we interviewed eyewitnesses. Our investigation reveals how Israeli troopers fired repeatedly on unarmed medics, closed in round them and continued taking pictures for greater than six minutes, whilst a number of of the crew have been nonetheless alive, carrying their uniforms and praying. Investigating itself, the I.D.F. has mentioned there have been skilled failures and dismissed the deputy commander who was concerned. However impartial specialists say that to knowingly assault medics is a breach of the legal guidelines of battle. Days earlier than the assault, Israel had damaged the cease-fire in Gaza with intense airstrikes after negotiations with Hamas to launch hostages broke down. Floor forces had moved into Rafah, and on the evening in query, the I.D.F. says it arrange an ambush on this street forward of an evacuation order to flush out suspected militants when folks moved. Crimson Crescent crews have been working in a single day to rescue casualties from a close-by airstrike. However when one crew goes lacking, others, together with Asaad and Rifaat, are despatched out to search out them. Within the darkness, they initially don’t see the lacking ambulance. It had been passing by right here simply an hour earlier when the Israeli unit opened fireplace on it. They killed the 2 medics sitting within the entrance, Ezz al-Deen Shath and Mustafa Khafaja, and detained a 3rd medic, Munther Abed, who survived. He instructed us what occurred. Munther instructed us he was stripped and crushed. The I.D.F. mentioned it thought the ambulance was a Hamas car, and has lengthy contended that Hamas makes use of ambulances to move weapons and fighters. Again on the street, Rifaat and Asaad cross the Israeli troopers with out incident and meet up with different medics who have been additionally out looking out. Saleh Muammar, who was driving the opposite ambulance, says he noticed our bodies on the bottom. They prepared the ambulances to return, however Saleh worries they are going to be attacked in the event that they transfer forward with out extra autos. A Civil Protection ambulance and fireplace engine joined them. They usually proceed on as a convoy. Overhead, an Israeli drone is watching them. The I.D.F. later mentioned {that a} drone operator instructed troopers on the bottom the convoy was advancing suspiciously, however they’re clearly marked as emergency providers. And the autos are flashing their lights, which troopers may see, the I.D.F. later instructed us. The medics pull in. Round 20 I.D.F. troopers are positioned right here, 100 toes off the roadside. Virtually all the first responders are clearly marked in reflective gear. They’re unarmed and transferring away from the I.D.F. Rifaat sees his colleagues our bodies. As they rush to rescue them, they’re met by a hail of gunfire. [gunshots] Rifaat scrambles to the motive force’s aspect and is shielded for now by the ambulance. He begins to hope. In whole, Rifaat movies virtually six minutes of gunfire. We produced a condensed timeline that provides an perception into the I.D.F.’s actions. After the primary barrage comes a 20-second pause. Rifaat repeats the Shahada — a declaration of religion that Muslims additionally say as they face dying. An ambulance tries to flee. However one other hail of gunfire erupts. We hear steady single photographs. Then computerized fireplace. One other pause. First responders could be heard screaming. Then one other barrage from a number of rifles. None of those medics are armed, and all the fireplace is coming from the I.D.F. A protracted pause, Rifaat asks his mom’s forgiveness. Regular gunfire, nearer to Rifaat, now, for the complete minute. An ambulance is shot at. Medics have been nonetheless inside a number of the autos. Considered one of them, Ashraf Abu Labda — telephones a Crimson Crescent dispatcher who information the decision. We synchronized Ashraf’s name with Rifaat’s video to raised perceive what they each have been seeing. Israeli troopers seem to strategy, shouting in Hebrew, nevertheless it’s unclear what they’re saying. Each Ashraf and Rifaat see them across the similar time. From Ashraf’s telephone name, sluggish, deliberate photographs are heard now. An Israeli soldier orders his troops. Ashraf hangs up. Amid the emergency autos, Rifaat’s telephone is positioned right here. Three audio specialists who analyzed his recording decided that the troopers start taking pictures as much as 150 toes away. This aligns with the place witnesses noticed the I.D.F. positioned and the place it constructed sand barricades. Because the taking pictures continues, the gunfire closes in to inside 60, 50 after which 40 toes of Rifaat by Minute 6 of the assault. Drone footage the I.D.F. confirmed The Instances confirms that the troopers moved in. Rifaat was nonetheless alive at the moment. He was shot a number of occasions, his post-mortem confirmed. And inside this ambulance, Ashraf was additionally alive. He was shot within the chest. A witness with a transparent view of what occurred, Saeed al-Bardawil, a civilian who was detained and held with the I.D.F. troops earlier than the assault on the convoy. Saeed says that I.D.F. reinforcements later got here, after which troopers shot first responders as they lay on the bottom. Minutes after the taking pictures, a clearly marked United Nations car occurred on the scene. The I.D.F. fired on it too, killing Kamal Shahtout, a U.N. worker who was on his technique to rescue colleagues injured in one other assault. Saeed says he noticed the I.D.F. then bury each the our bodies and autos. The I.D.F. mentioned this was not performed to hide the assault, however in The Instances’s expertise of reporting on its actions in Gaza, burying our bodies and autos just isn’t one thing the I.D.F. usually does. Crushing the autos was an operational error, the I.D.F. instructed us. “Why did you conceal the our bodies? Why and why? They must reply for that.” Younis Al-Khatib, the top of the Crimson Crescent, instructed us that for the subsequent 5 days he begged the I.D.F. for data on the whereabouts of their lacking workers. However the I.D.F. wouldn’t reply. Lastly, the U.N., Crimson Crescent and Civil Protection bought entry to the positioning. It took two days to recuperate the medics’ our bodies and autos. The Instances reviewed autopsies and images of the our bodies, which confirmed that a lot of the victims died from a number of gunshot wounds, together with to the neck and torso. Three of the Civil Protection workforce have been shot within the head. A Civil Protection helmet discovered there confirmed obvious bullet holes. Two our bodies have been lacking, limbs, probably shorn by the bulldozers burying them, and virtually all the Crimson Crescent and Civil Protection have been carrying their uniforms partially or in entire. For the reason that assault, Israel has given shifting variations of occasions that the proof contradicts. It initially mentioned the medics have been advancing suspiciously, however they by no means posed a risk. It mentioned that the autos have been with out headlights or emergency indicators, however modified that story two weeks later when The Instances printed Rifaat’s video. It mentioned the world was a fight zone. It wasn’t till the I.D.F. declared it so hours after the assault. It named and mentioned it killed a Hamas participant in Oct. 7. His household instructed us he’s alive in Gaza and he has no connection to the Crimson Crescent or Civil Protection. And it took weeks for the I.D.F. to confess it was detaining Asaad al-Nasasra, the medic driving alongside Rifaat, who survived. He was launched after 37 days, having been denied entry to a lawyer and his household. The I.D.F. has now launched the outcomes of its personal investigation. It says there was a sequence of operational misunderstandings that began with misidentifying the primary ambulance as a Hamas car, and believing the convoy have been Hamas reinforcements. It mentioned Hamas has beforehand used ambulances. It mentioned the deputy battalion commander, probably the most senior officer current, was the primary to open fireplace on the convoy. He has been dismissed. However as soon as the taking pictures began, the opposite troopers adopted process, the I.D.F. instructed us, whilst they fired for six minutes unchallenged. Specialists within the legal guidelines of battle, together with Janina Dill of Oxford College, instructed us that attacking medics who pose no risk is a probable battle crime. One other knowledgeable, who has lengthy studied assaults on well being care, says this isn’t an remoted incident. “This incident was a part of a a lot bigger sample the place U.N. convoys, Docs With out Borders, ambulances, humanitarian autos, have all been shot at a number of occasions with many individuals killed and injured.” The I.D.F. is happy that nothing wants to vary in its orders to troopers, which it described as wonderful. The troopers concerned on this assault have been from the Golani Brigade’s elite reconnaissance unit. A latest speech made by a commander of that brigade is an instance of the sorts of orders these troopers could obtain. Even after 50,000 folks have been killed in Gaza, this assault drew worldwide condemnation. The companies the slain medics labored for rejected the I.D.F.’s findings, and have known as for an impartial investigation.
