An investigation into the murders of 15 Palestinian doctors last month in Gaza by Israeli forces said on Sunday that it had found “professional failures”, with an assistant commander who should be rejected accordingly.
The deputy commander of the battalion assessed that the ambulances of doctors belonged to Hamas activists “due to poor night visibility,” said the military investigation.
The Palestinians were killed due to an “operational misunderstanding” by Israeli forces. In a separate incident, 15 minutes later, Israeli soldiers shot a United Nations Palestinian vehicle in what was a violation of orders, the investigation added.
Eight Red Crescent Staff, six civil defense workers and a member of UN staff were killed during the shooting before dawn on March 23 by troops carrying out operations in Tel-Sultan, a district of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Israel initially said that doctors' vehicles did not have emergency signals when the troops opened fire, but rose later when the mobile phone video recovered from one of the doctors contradicted this story.
The images obtained showed that ambulances had flashing lights and visible logos when they stopped to help another ambulance that was criticized earlier, and the teams did not seem to act unusually or threatening.
While three doctors are emerging and heading for the other ambulance, they immediately come under a fire dam that lasts more than five minutes with brief breaks.
According to the investigation, the assistant commander was the first to open fire, before the rest of the soldiers joined the shooting.
The bodies were buried in a mass tomb
The bodies of the victims, as well as their mutilated vehicles, were then bulldozés by troops, buried them in a grave of mass in what the leader of the Society of the Palestinian Red Crescent described as a deliberate act.
Dr. Younis al-Khatib said that men were “intended for short range”. However, the Israeli military investigation said that his examination had revealed “no evidence to support allegations of execution or that one of the deceased was bound before or after the shooting”.
The investigation revealed that the decision to crush the ambulances was wrong, but said that there was no attempt to hide the event.
The bodies and vehicles were removed from the road because the soldiers intended to use it as an evacuation path later in the day, according to Major-General Yoav Har-Even, head of the army investigation section.
The UN and the rescuers could not reach the site until a week later to dig up the bodies, after obtaining instructions from the Israeli army.
The conclusions said that six of the people killed were members of Hamas and said that some of the others were originally poorly identified as Hamas. The Israeli army initially declared that nine activists were activists.
Israel accuses Hamas of having hidden fighters in ambulances
The conclusions concluded by saying that the Israeli army “regrets the damage caused to undefined civilians”.
ADVERTISEMENTThe only survivor was detained for investigation and remains in detention for another interrogation.
This is not the first time that Israel has faced charges to kill emergency and humanitarian workers during the Gaza War.
According to the UN, Israeli strikes killed more than 150 emergency stakeholders in the Red Crescent and Civil Defense, most of them in service, as well as more than 1,000 health workers during the war.
Israel challenges the ICC accusations of war crimes
Palestinians and international human rights groups have repeatedly accused the Israeli soldiers of not having investigated properly or to whiten the work lime of his troops.
ADVERTISEMENTFormer Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court, created by the international community as a last appeal court.
Israel, who is not a member of the Court, said that his legal system is capable of investigating the army, and Netanyahu accused the ICC of “anti -Semitism”.
The war in Gaza was launched when activists led by Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mainly civilians and removing 251.
Most hostages have been published in ceasefire agreements or other offers. Hamas currently has 59 hostages, including 24 which would be alive.
ADVERTISEMENTMore than 51,000 Palestinians have now been killed by Israel’s offensive, including many women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health managed by Hamas, which does not distinguish between activists and civilians. The UN says that women and children have represented more than two thirds of all the deaths they have been able to verify.
