Video shows Gaza Rescue Crews Under Israeli Fire, Medici say: NPR

Rouwers gather around the bodies of eight Red Crescent Mulpkeerers, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, because they are transported for funeral from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, March 31.

Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

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Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

Tel Aviv, Israel – Palestinian medical officials say they have obtained video images that refute the claims of Israel about the killing of 15 rescue and care providers in the southern Gaza Strip last month.

Israel’s army initially said: “Several vehicles were identified that emerged suspiciously [Israeli] Troops without headlights or emergency signals “on March 23 and the soldiers opened fire.

But the Palestine Red Crescent Society a video released On Saturday it was found in a mobile phone with one of the killed paramedics. It shows clearly marked rescue vehicles with headlights and red emergency lights that flash. The video was filmed in one of the vehicles in the convoy.

In the video there is a heavy gunfire in the course of a few minutes, and the voice of a man says in Arabic: “Mom, forgive me. This is the path I have chosen to help people.”

On Thursday, the Israeli army said that a high -level military investigation took place to determine whether she should open a criminal investigation into misconduct during the incident of 23 March.

“All claims, including the documentation circulating on the incident, will be thoroughly and deeply investigated to understand the order of events and the treatment of the situation,” the army said on Saturday.

After the incident, the crew was missing for more than a week. Rescue teams finally discovered the bodies of 14 Palestinian care providers and an employee of the United Nations under a hill with sand on 31 March.

“They were hit one by one, they were beaten. Their bodies were collected and buried in this mass grave,” Jonathan Whittall, an official at the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian matters, said in a video On the site where the bodies were found. “They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave. … It is an absolute horror that happened here.”

The UN says 408 care providers were killed in more than 17 months of war in Gaza.

Israel is expanding his military offensive in Gaza after breaking a ceasefire in the war that followed on October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas. Israel says it is fighting to put the Palestinian militant group under pressure to release hostages and beat Hamas.