After 15 Palestinian Red Crescent medics were killed in southern Gaza on March 23, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) asserted that they had struck vehicles driving without headlights that were transporting terrorists. Today, a video, found on the cell phone of one of the killed medics, clearly shows ambulances and a fire truck, obviously marked with emergency lights on and flashing. The medic was recording from one vehicle’s front seat and it shows three other responding vehicles ahead of it.
Officials of the Palestinian Red Crescent announced yesterday at a UN news conference that the video would be turned over to the UN Security Council. Palestinian Red Crescent President Dr. Younis Al-Khatib described that the aid workers were “targeted from a very close range” and that Israel “kept us for eight days in the dark” on the bodies’ whereabouts.
The New York Times, which said they obtained access to the video from a senior UN diplomat, stated that the time and place of the video were verified. (They did not release the name of the medic, as the diplomat said the family feared retaliation by the IDF.) Earlier, on March 31, UN officials had identified the 15 bodies buried in a mass grave as emergency and aid workers, including from the Red Crescent and the United Nations. There were also, according to the Times of Israel, “mangled ambulances” buried with the bodies, apparently by bulldozers.
The full 7-minute video goes dark after 2 minutes, with the sound of gunfire exchanges, as the medic can be heard reciting what the TOI identifies as “the Shahada, a Muslim prayer typically said before death.” During the last 5 minutes, gunfire continues and Israeli soldiers can be heard yelling orders in Hebrew.
The Times of Israel provided a chronological review of the IDF statements:
