Israel admits ‘mistakenly’ killing 15 aid workers after video leak contradicted official version of events
Israel has admitted it may have made a mistake when soldiers opened fire on unarmed medics and aid workers in an incident in which 15 people were killed.
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Israeli military officials have launched an investigation after phone footage from one of 15 Palestinians medics killed by Israeli forces last month appeared to contradict the official version of events.
In a briefing this evening, an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) official said that soldiers had “mistakenly” identified the paramedics as a threat and that the incident was under “thorough investigation”.
He added that all claims “will be examined thoroughly and in depth in order to understand the conduct of the incident”.
Israel had said that medics' vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire on them in southern Gaza, killing 15 unarmed medics and aid workers.
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But video footage has now emerged showing the Red Crescent and Civil Defence teams driving slowly with their emergency vehicles' lights flashing, with the logos visible, as they pulled up to help an ambulance that had come under fire earlier.
The IDF said in a statement today: "The IDF acknowledges that its statement claiming that the ambulances had their lights off, was incorrect, and was based on the testimony from the soldiers in the incident.
"Video footage published by The New York Times today showed that the ambulances were clearly identifiable and had their lights on.
"The investigation is looking into this discrepancy.
"The IDF has also found that at least six of the 15 slain medics were immediately identified by intelligence officials as Hamas operatives."
Eight Red Crescent personnel, six Civil Defence workers and a UN worker were killed in the shooting before dawn on March 23 by Israeli troops conducting operations in Tel al-Sultan, a district of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Troops then bulldozed over the bodies along with their mangled vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later to dig out the bodies.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society's vice president, Marwan Jilani, said the phone with the footage was found in the pocket of one of its workers who died at the scene.
The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations distributed the video to the UN Security Council. The Associated Press obtained the video from a UN diplomat.
One paramedic who survived, Munzer Abed, confirmed the veracity of the video to the AP.
Two block-shaped concrete structures visible in the video are also seen in a UN video released on Sunday showing the recovery of the bodies from the site - a sign that the location is the same.
Asked about the video, the Israeli military said the incident was "under thorough examination".
It said "all claims, including the documentation circulating about the incident, will be thoroughly and deeply examined to understand the sequence of events and the handling of the situation".
The Israeli military has said it opened fire on the vehicles because they were "advancing suspiciously" on nearby troops without headlights or emergency signals.
The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, Younes Al-Khatib, called for an independent investigation into the attack.
"We don't trust any of the army investigations," he told a briefing at the United Nations on Friday.
One medic, Assaad al-Nassasra, has been missing since the attack, the Red Crescent says. Mr Abed said he saw Mr al-Nassasra being led away blindfolded by Israeli troops. Mr Al-Khatib said the organisation has asked the military where it is holding their worker.
Mr Al-Khatib said the slain men had been "targeted at close range" and that a post-mortem examination report would be released soon.
Israel has accused Hamas of moving and hiding its fighters inside ambulances and emergency vehicles, as well as in hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, arguing that this justifies strikes on them.
Medical personnel largely deny these accusations.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 150 emergency responders from the Red Crescent and Civil Defence, most of them while on duty, as well as more than 1,000 health workers, according to the UN.