A video recording, found on the cellphone of one of many paramedics who was discovered together with 14 different support employees in a mass grave within the Gazan metropolis of Rafah in late March and obtained by The New York Instances, exhibits that the ambulances and fireplace truck that they had been touring in had been clearly marked and had their emergency sign lights on when Israeli troops hit them with a barrage of gunfire.
Officers from the Palestine Crimson Crescent Society stated at a information convention on Friday on the United Nations moderated by the Worldwide Federation of Crimson Cross and Crimson Crescent Societies that that they had introduced the almost seven-minute recording to the U.N. Safety Council.
An Israeli army spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said earlier this week that Israeli forces didn’t “randomly assault” an ambulance, however that a number of autos “had been recognized advancing suspiciously” with out headlights or emergency indicators towards Israeli troops, prompting them to shoot. Colonel Shoshani stated earlier within the week that 9 of these killed had been Palestinian militants. Israel didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the video.
The Instances obtained the video from a senior diplomat on the United Nations who requested to not be recognized to have the ability to share delicate data.
The Instances verified the placement and timing of the video. Filmed from what seems to be the entrance inside of a transferring car, it exhibits a convoy of ambulances and a hearth truck, clearly marked with headlights and flashing lights turned on, driving south on a road to the north of Rafah within the early morning. The primary rays of solar could be seen, and birds are chirping.
The convoy stops when it encounters a car that had veered onto the aspect of the highway — one ambulance had been dispatched earlier to assist wounded civilians and had come below assault. The brand new rescue autos detoured to the aspect of the highway.
Rescue employees, at the very least two of whom could be seen sporting uniforms, are seen exiting a hearth truck and an ambulance marked with the symbol of the Crimson Crescent and approaching the ambulance derailed to the aspect.
Then, the sounds of intense gunfire get away.
A barrage of gunshots is seen and heard within the video hitting the convoy.
The digital camera shakes, the video goes darkish. However the audio continues for 5 minutes, and the rat-a-tat sound of gunfire doesn’t cease. A person says in Arabic that there are Israelis current on the scene.
The paramedic filming is heard on the video franticly reciting, time and again, the “shahada,” or a Muslim declaration of religion, which individuals recite when dealing with loss of life. “There is no such thing as a God however God, Muhammad is his messenger,” the paramedic is heard saying. He asks God for forgiveness and says he is aware of he’s going to die.
“Forgive me, mom. That is the trail I selected — to assist folks,” he stated. “Allahu akbar,” God is nice, he says.
Within the backdrop, a commotion of voices from distraught support employees and troopers shouting instructions in Hebrew at one another could be heard. It was not clear what they had been precisely saying.
The Palestine Crimson Crescent Society spokeswoman, Nebal Farsakh, stated in an interview from the West Financial institution metropolis of Ramallah that the paramedic who filmed the video was later discovered with a bullet in his head within the mass grave. His identify has not been disclosed but as a result of he has family members dwelling in Gaza who’re involved about Israeli retaliation, the U.N. diplomat stated.
On the information convention, held on the U.N. headquarters, the president of the Palestine Crimson Crescent Society, Dr. Younis Al-Khatib, and his deputy, Marwan Jilani, advised reporters that the proof the society has collected — together with the video and audio from the incident, and forensic examination of the our bodies — contradicted Israel’s model of occasions
The deaths of the help employees, who first went lacking on March 23, has drawn worldwide scrutiny and condemnation in current days. The U.N. and the Palestine Crimson Crescent stated the help employees weren’t carrying weapons and posed not risk.
“Their our bodies have been focused from a really shut vary,” stated Dr. Khatib, including that Israel didn’t present data on the lacking medics’ whereabouts for days. “They knew precisely the place they had been as a result of they killed them,” he stated. “Their colleagues had been in agony, their households had been in agony. They stored us for eight days at the hours of darkness.”
It took 5 days after the rescue autos got here below assault and fell silent, for the United Nations and Crimson Crescent to barter with the Israeli army for secure passage to seek for the lacking folks. On Sunday, rescue teams found 15 bodies, most in a shallow mass grave along with their crushed ambulances and a car marked with the U.N. brand.
The world the place the convoy stops within the video was captured in a satellite tv for pc picture a couple of hours later and analyzed by The Instances. At that time, the 5 ambulances and the fireplace truck had been moved off the highway and clustered collectively.
Two days later, a brand new satellite tv for pc picture of the world confirmed the autos had been apparently buried. Subsequent to disturbed earth are three Israeli army bulldozers and an excavator. Moreover, bulldozers erected earthen boundaries on the highway in each instructions from the mass grave.
One member of the Palestinian Crimson Crescent continues to be lacking and Israel has not stated whether or not he’s detained or has been killed, Dr. Khatib stated.
Dr. Ahmad Dhair, a forensic physician who examined a few of the our bodies in Gaza’s Nasser hospital, said four out of the five aid workers he examined were killed by multiple gunshots, including wounds to the head, torso, chest and joints. One paramedic worker of the Crimson Crescent within the convoy was detained after which launched by the Israeli army and supplied witness account of Israeli army capturing on the ambulances, the U.N. and Crimson Crescent Society stated.
Dylan Winder, the consultant of the Worldwide Federation of Crimson Cross and Crimson Crescent Societies to the U.N., known as the incident an outrage and stated it represented the one deadliest assault on Crimson Cross and Crimson Crescent Society employees any the place on the planet since 2017.
Volker Türk, the U.N.’s Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, advised the council that an unbiased investigation have to be performed into Israel’s killing of the help employees and that the incident raises “additional considerations over the fee of warfare crimes by the Israeli army.”
Neil Collier, Sanjana Varghese and Ephrat Livni contributed reporting. Natalie Reneau contributed video modifying.
