The newest explanation yesterday by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as to how 15 unarmed medics and aid workers—most of them from the Red Crescent and the UN—were shot to death is yet another insult. On April 4, the previous cover story—that the IDF had shot at vehicles transporting terrorists at night that had their lights out—was exposed as a fabrication by the unexpected release of a video recording, showing the ambulances with lights flashing. The IDF now purports, reported the Times of Israel, that early results from their ongoing investigation show that their soldiers had “mistakenly” identified the victims (that is, personnel from the UN and the Red Crescent medics) as Hamas fighters.
The IDF explained: Around 4:30 a.m. IST (GMT+3), they had fired on a Hamas police vehicle, killing one and capturing two. So, around 6:00 a.m., after a surveillance drone operator had told them that the ambulance convoy was moving toward them in a “suspicious manner,” they opened fire. Further, the IDF now adds “that at least six of those killed had been posthumously identified as Hamas operatives ... and said troops had not attempted to hide the incident but rather had informed the UN of the location of the grave.”
The explanation is notable, and insulting, on several levels. First, before the IDF opened fire, the vehicles had stopped, in fact to render aid to the police vehicle on the side of the road which the soldiers had shot up. It was not moving toward them at all, suspicious or not. Next, the purpose of now labelling the six unarmed medics as “Hamas operatives” is to have the world believe that they were terrorists worthy of death. (While the al-Qassam Brigades are the armed, military subdivision of Hamas, most of Hamas members that constitute Gaza’s civilian government are teachers, medical personnel, police, etc.—what the IDF are calling “Hamas operatives.") In fact, the six were unarmed medics of the Palestinian Civil Defense, working together with paramedics and aid workers from the UN and the Red Crescent. Finally, the IDF did not take the UN officials to the place where their UN personnel was buried under the sand for over a week, using the claim that they were just too busy with other activities.
What would one learn about the last 50,000 Palestinian deaths if the IDF narrative were able to be challenged by video evidence?
