The Israeli navy has acknowledged flaws in its preliminary accounts of its troops’ involvement within the killing final month of 15 folks in southern Gaza who the United Nations stated have been all paramedics and rescue employees.
The admission got here on Saturday, the day after a video obtained by The New York Occasions appeared to contradict a key a part of the navy’s earlier model of occasions. Whereas the navy had stated it fired on the autos after they “superior suspiciously,” the video confirmed clearly marked ambulances and a hearth truck.
The episode has drawn worldwide scrutiny and condemnation. After the blatant inconsistencies within the Israeli account have been revealed, the navy appeared to maneuver extra rapidly than standard to handle the problem. Inner navy inquiries into questionable lethal episodes can drag on for months, even years.
Right here’s what we all know to date:
The Israeli navy’s model(s)
In its preliminary statements after the our bodies have been found, the navy insisted its troops had opened hearth as a convoy approached them at the hours of darkness “with out headlights or emergency indicators.”
However the video — found on the cellphone of a paramedic who was present in a mass grave — exhibits that the ambulances and hearth truck had emergency lights on as Israeli forces unleashed their barrage.
The navy now says the preliminary account from forces on the bottom was “mistaken.”
Navy officers had beforehand asserted that 9 of these killed have been operatives of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. That they had named solely one of many 9 and supplied no proof for his or her declare.
On Saturday, a navy official who briefed reporters on the preliminary findings of an inner inquiry stated at the very least six of the 15 have been Hamas operatives however nonetheless didn’t present proof. The official spoke on the situation of anonymity beneath military guidelines.
Earlier than the encounter with the emergency autos, the official stated, reserve forces from an infantry brigade had been mendacity in ambush alongside a highway to the north of the Gazan metropolis of Rafah earlier than daybreak on March 23. At 4 a.m., they killed what the official described as two Hamas safety personnel and detained a 3rd.
Two hours later, as daybreak was breaking, the emergency convoy approached the identical spot. When the rescue employees started to go away their autos, the official stated, the Israeli forces believed that they have been Hamas operatives heading for them and opened hearth from afar.
Amos Harel, a navy affairs analyst for the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, stated in an interview that the troopers had “good cause to be concerned” and that it might be unsuitable to imagine instantly that the case was considered one of “homicide in chilly blood,” citing Hamas fighters’ frequent use of civilian infrastructure as cowl.
However the episode raises questions, Mr. Harel stated, concerning the troopers’ conduct and the model of occasions they reported from the bottom.
The navy official denied studies that a few of the our bodies have been discovered sure and shot at shut vary. He stated that the troops had buried the our bodies to protect them from wild animals and used heavy gear to maneuver the disabled autos off the highway, mangling them.
What the help teams say
Palestine Pink Crescent Society representatives stated final week that ambulances had set out round 3:30 a.m. on March 23 to evacuate Palestinian civilians wounded by Israeli shelling.
The Pink Crescent stated that an ambulance and its crew had been hit by Israeli forces and that a number of extra ambulances and a hearth truck headed to the scene over the following few hours to rescue them. A U.N. automobile was additionally despatched, the United Nations stated.
Seventeen folks have been dispatched in whole, of whom 10 have been Pink Crescent employees, six have been emergency responders from Gaza’s civil protection service and one was a U.N. employee.
It took days to barter entry to retrieve the 15 our bodies. The Pink Crescent stated that one medic was nonetheless lacking and that one had been detained by Israeli forces and later launched.
The Pink Crescent stated Israel’s “concentrating on” of its medics ought to be “thought of a battle crime” and demanded an investigation. It added that the most recent killings dropped at 27 the variety of its members killed throughout the battle, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, with a lethal Hamas-led assault on southern Israel.
On Friday, the president of the Palestine Pink Crescent Society, Dr. Younis Al-Khatib, informed reporters that, based mostly on autopsies and forensic proof, the emergency employees had been “focused from a really shut vary.”
Response in Israel to date
The case has acquired broader protection in Israel for the reason that publicity of the video. Politicians have principally remained silent, maybe ready for the navy to finish its inquiry.
Mr. Harel, the navy affairs analyst, stated the inquiry was a primary take a look at for the just lately put in navy chief of employees, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, relating to the navy’s worldwide standing.
And the bigger query of accountability stays. Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group, discovered final yr that of 573 instances of suspected battle crimes in Gaza examined over the previous decade by the military, just one led to prosecution.
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting from Rehovot, Israel.
