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, reveals that the ambulances and hearth 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 mentioned 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 navy spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, mentioned earlier this week that Israeli forces didn’t “randomly assault” an ambulance, however that a number of automobiles “had been recognized advancing suspiciously” with out headlights or emergency indicators towards Israeli troops, prompting them to shoot. Colonel Shoshani mentioned 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 info.
The Instances verified the situation and timing of the video. Filmed from what seems to be the entrance inside of a shifting car, it reveals a convoy of ambulances and a hearth truck, clearly marked with headlights and flashing lights turned on, driving south on a highway to the north of Rafah within the early morning. The primary rays of solar may 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 help wounded civilians and had come below assault. The brand new rescue automobiles detoured to the aspect of the highway.
Rescue employees, at the least two of whom may be seen carrying 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 escape.
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 going through 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 individuals,” he mentioned. “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 may be heard. It was not clear what they had been precisely saying.
The Palestine Crimson Crescent Society spokeswoman, Nebal Farsakh, mentioned 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 kin residing in Gaza who’re involved about Israeli retaliation, the U.N. diplomat mentioned.
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, instructed 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 latest days. The U.N. and the Palestine Crimson Crescent mentioned the help employees weren’t carrying weapons and posed not menace.
“Their our bodies have been focused from a really shut vary,” mentioned Dr. Khatib, including that Israel didn’t present info on the lacking medics’ whereabouts for days. “They knew precisely the place they had been as a result of they killed them,” he mentioned. “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 automobiles got here below assault and fell silent, for the United Nations and Crimson Crescent to barter with the Israeli navy for protected passage to seek for the lacking individuals. On Sunday, rescue groups discovered 15 our bodies, most in a shallow mass grave together with their crushed ambulances and a car marked with the U.N. emblem.
The world the place the convoy stops within the video was captured in a satellite tv for pc picture just a few hours later and analyzed by The Instances. At that time, the 5 ambulances and the hearth truck had been moved off the highway and clustered collectively.
Two days later, a brand new satellite tv for pc picture of the realm confirmed the automobiles had been apparently buried. Subsequent to disturbed earth are three Israeli navy bulldozers and an excavator. Moreover, bulldozers erected earthen limitations 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 mentioned whether or not he’s detained or has been killed, Dr. Khatib mentioned.
Dr. Ahmad Dhair, a forensic physician who examined among the our bodies in Gaza’s Nasser hospital, mentioned 4 out of the 5 support employees he examined had been killed by a number of gunshots, together with wounds to the pinnacle, torso, chest and joints. One paramedic worker of the Crimson Crescent within the convoy was detained after which launched by the Israeli navy and supplied witness account of Israeli navy capturing on the ambulances, the U.N. and Crimson Crescent Society mentioned.
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 mentioned it represented the only deadliest assault on Crimson Cross and Crimson Crescent Society employees any the place on this planet since 2017.
Volker Türk, the U.N.’s Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, instructed the council that an impartial investigation have to be performed into Israel’s killing of the help employees and that the incident raises “additional considerations over the fee of conflict crimes by the Israeli navy.”
Neil Collier, Sanjana Varghese and Ephrat Livni contributed reporting. Natalie Reneau contributed video modifying.
