A video recording, found on the cellphone of one of many paramedics who was discovered together with 14 different help 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 fireplace truck that they have been touring in have 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 mentioned at a information convention on Friday on the United Nations moderated by the Worldwide Federation of Pink Cross and Pink Crescent Societies that that they had offered the practically seven-minute recording to the U.N. Safety Council.
An Israeli army spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, mentioned earlier this week that Israeli forces didn’t “randomly assault” an ambulance, however that a number of autos “have been recognized advancing suspiciously” with out headlights or emergency alerts towards Israeli troops, prompting them to shoot. Colonel Shoshani mentioned earlier within the week that 9 of these killed have 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 placement and timing of the video. Filmed from what seems to be the entrance inside of a shifting automobile, it reveals a convoy of ambulances and a fireplace truck, clearly marked with headlights and flashing lights turned on, driving south on a street to the north of Rafah within the early morning. The primary rays of solar will be seen, and birds are chirping.
The convoy stops when it encounters a automobile that had veered onto the aspect of the street — one ambulance had been dispatched earlier to help wounded civilians and had come below assault. The brand new rescue autos detoured to the aspect of the street.
Rescue employees, not less than two of whom will be seen sporting 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 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, again and again, the “shahada,” or a Muslim declaration of religion, which individuals recite when dealing with demise. “There isn’t any 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 mentioned. “Allahu akbar,” God is nice, he says.
Within the backdrop, a commotion of voices from distraught help employees and troopers shouting instructions in Hebrew at one another will be heard. It was not clear what they have been precisely saying.
The Palestine Pink 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 family dwelling 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 Pink 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 current days. The U.N. and the Palestine Pink 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 have been as a result of they killed them,” he mentioned. “Their colleagues have been in agony, their households have been in agony. They stored us for eight days at midnight.”
It took 5 days after the rescue autos got here below assault and fell silent, for the United Nations and Pink Crescent to barter with the Israeli army for protected passage to seek for the lacking folks. On Sunday, rescue groups discovered 15 our bodies, most in a shallow mass grave together with their crushed ambulances and a automobile 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 number of hours later and analyzed by The Instances. At that time, the 5 ambulances and the hearth truck had been moved off the street and clustered collectively.
Two days later, a brand new satellite tv for pc picture of the world confirmed the autos have been apparently buried. Subsequent to disturbed earth are three Israeli army bulldozers and an excavator. Moreover, bulldozers erected earthen obstacles 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 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 help employees he examined have been killed by a number of gunshots, together with wounds to the top, 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 taking pictures on the ambulances, the U.N. and Pink Crescent Society mentioned.
Dylan Winder, the consultant of the Worldwide Federation of Pink Cross and Pink Crescent Societies to the U.N., referred to as the incident an outrage and mentioned it represented the one deadliest assault on Pink Cross and Pink Crescent Society employees any the place on the earth since 2017.
Volker Türk, the U.N.’s Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, instructed the council that an unbiased investigation should be carried out into Israel’s killing of the help employees and that the incident raises “additional issues over the fee of battle crimes by the Israeli army.”
Neil Collier, Sanjana Varghese and Ephrat Livni contributed reporting. Natalie Reneau contributed video modifying.
