JERUSALEM — An Israeli investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics final month in Gaza by Israeli forces stated Sunday that it discovered a series of “professional failures” and a deputy commander can be fired — one of the crucial extreme punishments of the 18-month conflict.
Israel at first claimed that the medics’ automobiles didn’t have emergency alerts on when troops opened hearth, nevertheless it later backtracked. Cellphone video recovered from one medic contradicted Israel’s preliminary account.
The army investigation discovered that the deputy battalion commander, “due to poor night visibility,” assessed that the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants. Video footage obtained reveals the ambulances had lights flashing and logos seen as they pulled as much as assist one other ambulance that got here beneath hearth earlier. The groups don’t seem like appearing unusually or in a threatening method as three medics emerge and head towards it.
Their automobiles instantly come beneath a barrage of gunfire that goes on for greater than 5 minutes with temporary pauses.
Eight Crimson Crescent personnel, six Civil Protection staff and a U.N. staffer had been killed within the capturing earlier than daybreak on March 23 by troops conducting operations in Tel al-Sultan, a district of the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah. Troops bulldozed over the our bodies together with their mangled automobiles, burying them in a mass grave. U.N. and rescue staff had been capable of attain the location per week later.
The pinnacle of the Palestinian Crimson Crescent Society has stated the boys had been “targeted at close range.” The Israeli army stated the examination discovered “no evidence to support claims of execution or that any of the deceased were bound before or after the shooting.”
It stated the Palestinians had been killed as a result of an “operational misunderstanding” by Israeli forces, and {that a} separate incident quarter-hour later, when Israeli troopers shot at a Palestinian U.N. car, was a breach of orders.
The deputy commander who can be dismissed was the primary to open hearth and the remainder of the troopers additionally began capturing, the investigation stated. It stated the troopers had been 65 to 100 ft from the highway when the ambulances pulled up.
The findings asserted that six of these killed had been Hamas militants — it didn’t give their names — and stated among the others had been initially misidentified as Hamas. Israel’s army initially stated 9 had been militants. The Civil Protection is a part of the Hamas-run authorities.
No paramedic was armed and no weapons had been present in any car, Maj. Gen Yoav Har-Even, answerable for the army’s investigative department, advised journalists.
