Phone Footage Appears To Contradict Israel’s Account In Troops’ Killing Of 15 Palestinian Medics

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Cellphone video from one in every of 15 Palestinian medics killed by Israeli forces last month seems to contradict Israeli claims that the medics’ autos didn’t have emergency alerts on when troops opened fireplace on them in southern Gaza.

The footage reveals the Crimson Crescent and Civil Protection groups driving slowly with their emergency autos’ lights flashing, logos seen, as they pulled as much as assist an ambulance that had come below fireplace earlier. The groups don’t seem like appearing unusually or in a threatening method as three medics emerge and head towards the stricken ambulance.

Their autos instantly come below a barrage of gunfire, which works on for greater than 5 minutes with transient pauses. The proprietor of the telephone will be heard praying.

“Forgive me, mom. That is the trail I selected, mom, to assist individuals,” he cries, his voice weak.

Eight Crimson Crescent personnel, six Civil Protection staff and a U.N. staffer have been killed within the capturing earlier than daybreak on March 23 by Israeli troops conducting operations in Tel al-Sultan, a district of the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah. Troops then bulldozed over the our bodies together with their mangled autos, burying them in a mass grave. U.N. and rescue staff have been solely in a position to attain the positioning per week later to dig out the our bodies.

The Palestinian Crimson Crescent Society’s vice chairman, Marwan Jilani, mentioned the telephone with the footage was discovered within the pocket of one in every of its slain staffers. The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations distributed the video to the U.N. Safety Council. The Related Press obtained the video from a U.N. diplomat on situation of anonymity as a result of it has not been made public.

One paramedic who survived, Munzer Abed, confirmed the veracity of the video to the AP. Two block-shaped concrete constructions seen within the video are additionally seen in a U.N. video launched Sunday displaying the restoration of the our bodies from the positioning — an indication they’re in the identical location.

Requested in regards to the video, the Israeli army mentioned Saturday that the incident was “below thorough examination.”

The Israeli army earlier mentioned it opened fireplace on the autos as a result of they have been “advancing suspiciously” on close by troops with out headlights or emergency alerts.

The preliminary account of the autos not having emergency lights on was mistaken, an Israeli army official advised journalists Saturday night. The official spoke on situation of anonymity in keeping with laws.

The top of the Palestinian Crimson Crescent Society, Younes Al-Khatib, referred to as for an unbiased investigation. “We don’t belief any of the military investigations,” he advised a briefing on the U.N. on Friday.

One medic, Assaad al-Nassasra, remains to be lacking, the Crimson Crescent says. Abed mentioned he noticed al-Nassasra being led away blindfolded by Israeli troops. Al-Khatib mentioned the group has requested the army the place it’s holding the staffer.

Al-Khatib mentioned the slain males had been “focused at shut vary” and {that a} forensic post-mortem report can be launched quickly.

Israel has accused Hamas of shifting and hiding its fighters inside ambulances and emergency autos, in addition to in hospitals and different civilian infrastructure, arguing that justifies strikes on them. Medical personnel largely deny the accusations.

Israeli strikes have killed greater than 150 emergency responders from the Crimson Crescent and Civil Protection, most of them whereas on responsibility, in addition to over 1,000 well being staff, in line with the U.N. The Israeli army not often investigates such incidents.

Ambulances began heading to Tel al-Sultan at round 3:50 a.m. on March 23, responding to studies of wounded, Jilani mentioned. The primary ambulance returned safely with no less than one casualty, he mentioned. However, he mentioned, subsequent ambulances got here below fireplace.

His arms trembling, Abed advised the AP on Saturday that as his ambulance entered the realm, its siren lights have been on. “Impulsively, I’m telling you, there was direct capturing at us,” so intense that the car floor to a cease, he mentioned.

A ten-year veteran of the Crimson Crescent, Abed mentioned he was sitting within the again seat and ducked to the ground. He mentioned he may hear nothing from his two colleagues within the entrance seat — the one others within the car. They seem to have been killed immediately.

Israeli troops, some with night time goggles, dragged Abed out of the ambulance and onto the bottom, he mentioned. They made him strip to his underwear, beat him throughout his physique with their rifle butts, then tied his arms behind his again, he mentioned.

They interrogated him, asking him about his paramedic coaching and the way many individuals have been within the ambulance with him, he mentioned. One soldier pressed the muzzle of his computerized rifle into his neck. One other pressed his knife blade into Abed’s palm, virtually slicing it, till a 3rd soldier pulled them away and warned Abed, “They’re loopy.”

Abed mentioned he witnessed them opening fireplace on the following autos to reach. Troopers pressured him onto his abdomen and pressed a gun into his again, he mentioned, and amid the capturing within the darkness, so he may solely see two Civil Protection autos.

The telephone video reveals a rescue convoy of Crimson Crescent and Civil Protection autos that was despatched out after contact was misplaced with the stricken ambulance. Taken from the dashboard of 1 car, it reveals a number of ambulances and a hearth truck shifting down a highway by way of a barren space within the darkness. The emergency lights on their roofs are flashing all the means.

They arrive at an ambulance on the aspect of the highway and cease subsequent to it, their lights nonetheless flashing. No Israeli troops are seen.

“Lord, allow them to be OK,” a person within the automotive says. Then he cries out, “They’re tossed round on the bottom!” — apparently referring to our bodies. Three males in orange Civil Protection clothes will be seen getting out of the autos and strolling towards the stopped ambulance.

A shot rings out and one of many males seems to fall. Gunfire erupts.

The person holding the telephone seems to scramble out of the automotive and onto the bottom, however the display goes black, although the audio continues. The gunfire goes on for practically 5 and a half minutes, with lengthy, heavy barrages adopted by silences punctuated by particular person pictures and shouts and screams.

All through, the person with the telephone says time and again, “There is no such thing as a God however God and Muhammad is God’s prophet” — the career of religion that Muslims say once they concern they’re about to die. Close to the tip of the six-minute, 40-second video, voices will be heard shouting in Hebrew. “The Jews are coming,” the person mentioned, referring to Israeli troopers, earlier than the video cuts off.

The Israeli army official asserted there was “no mistreatment,” and mentioned he didn’t know why the autos had been buried. He had no details about the medic who remained lacking.

The Israeli army says that after the capturing, troops decided they’d killed a Hamas determine named Mohammed Amin Shobaki and eight different militants. Nevertheless, not one of the 15 slain medics has that title, and no different our bodies are recognized to have been discovered on the website.

The army has not mentioned what occurred to Shobaki’s physique or launched the names of the opposite alleged militants. The Israeli army official mentioned Israel was “working to convey proof” that Hamas operatives have been killed.

Jonathan Whittall, interim head in Gaza of the U.N. humanitarian workplace OCHA, dismissed allegations that the slain medics have been Hamas militants, saying workers had labored with the identical medics beforehand in evacuating sufferers from hospitals and different duties.

“These are paramedic crews that I personally have met earlier than,” he mentioned. “They have been buried of their uniforms with their gloves on. They have been prepared to save lots of lives.”

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip; Keath from Cairo. Related Press writers Farnoush Amiri on the United Nations, Sarah El Deeb in Cairo, Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Areej Hazboun contributed to this report.