Israeli probe into 15 Palestinian medic killings finds 'professional failures'
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Jerusalem: An Israeli military probe into the killings of Palestinian medics in Gaza has found “professional failures” within the forces. The investigation, released on Sunday, followed the deaths of 15 medics last month, who were shot by Israeli troops while providing aid.
Initially, Israel claimed that the medics’ ambulances had not displayed emergency signals, which led the military to open fire. However, cellphone footage recovered from one of the medics contradicted this version of the events. The investigation found that the deputy battalion commander, “due to poor night visibility,” mistakenly assessed that the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants. Further video evidence confirmed that the ambulances had flashing emergency lights, refuting Israel's initial claim. As a result, the deputy commander has been dismissed from his post.
The tragic incident occurred on March 23 when eight Red Crescent personnel, six Civil Defence workers, and a UN staffer were killed during Israeli operations in the Tel al-Sultan district of Rafah, southern Gaza. The bodies were later bulldozed over with their vehicles, buried in a mass grave. It wasn’t until a week later that the UN and rescue workers were able to recover the bodies.
The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society stated that the medics had been “targeted at close range.” The Israeli military investigation attributed the killings to an “operational misunderstanding” and confirmed that a subsequent shooting incident involving a Palestinian UN vehicle, 15 minutes later, was a breach of orders.
The investigation also stated that the decision to bulldoze the bodies was a mistake, but denied claims that there was an attempt to cover up the event. “The examination found no evidence to support claims of execution or that any of the deceased were bound before or after the shooting,” the report added.
Israel has accused Hamas of using ambulances, emergency vehicles, and hospitals to hide fighters, justifying strikes on these locations. Medical personnel, however, continue to deny these allegations.
