A video recording, found on the cellphone of one of many paramedics who was discovered together with 14 different assist employees in a mass grave within the Gazan metropolis of Rafah in late March and obtained by The New York Occasions, 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 Pink Crescent Society stated at a information convention on Friday on the United Nations moderated by the Worldwide Federation of Pink Cross and Pink Crescent Societies that they’d introduced the practically 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 alerts 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 Occasions 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 Occasions verified the placement and timing of the video. Filmed from what seems to be the entrance inside of a transferring automobile, it exhibits a convoy of ambulances and a fireplace 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 may be seen, and birds are chirping.
The convoy stops when it encounters a automobile that had veered onto the facet of the street — one ambulance had been dispatched earlier to assist wounded civilians and had come beneath assault. The brand new rescue autos detoured to the facet of the street.
Rescue employees, a minimum of two of whom may be seen carrying uniforms, are seen exiting a fireplace truck and an ambulance marked with the symbol of the Pink Crescent and approaching the ambulance derailed to the facet.
Then, the sounds of intense gunfire get away.
A barrage of gunshots is seen and heard within the video hitting the convoy.
The digicam 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 isn’t 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 assist 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 Pink 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 title has not been disclosed but as a result of he has relations 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 Pink 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 latest days. The U.N. and the Palestine Pink 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 midnight.”
It took 5 days after the rescue autos got here beneath assault and fell silent, for the United Nations and Pink 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 automobile marked with the U.N. brand.
The realm 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 Occasions. At that time, the 5 ambulances and the fireplace truck had been moved off the street and clustered collectively.
Two days later, a brand new satellite tv for pc picture of the realm confirmed the autos had been apparently buried. Subsequent to disturbed earth are three Israeli army bulldozers and an excavator. Moreover, bulldozers erected earthen limitations on the street in each instructions from the mass grave.
One member of the Palestinian Pink Crescent remains 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 number 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 Pink Crescent within the convoy was detained after which launched by the Israeli army and offered witness account of Israeli army capturing on the ambulances, the U.N. and Pink Crescent Society stated.
Dylan Winder, the consultant of the Worldwide Federation of Pink Cross and Pink Crescent Societies to the U.N., known as the incident an outrage and stated it represented the one deadliest assault on Pink Cross and Pink Crescent Society employees any the place on this planet since 2017.
Volker Türk, the U.N.’s Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, advised the council that an unbiased investigation should be carried out 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.
