A video clip filmed by one of the 15 medics who were shot to death by the IDF in Rafah last month, contradicts the military's claim that a number of vehicles approached troops, with no prior coordination, in a manner that was suspicious, without headlintghts and therefore forces opened fire. The clip shows emergency lights were activated n the ambulanced and fire trucks seconds before shots were fired.
The clip also shows some of the passengers being shot after they left the vehicles. Officials with the Red Crescent said the full 7-minute clip was presented to the UN Security Council.
New York Times video shows IDF opens fire on Gaza emergency teams
(The NY Times)
The incident occurred on March 23 one day after the IDF resumed its military offensive in Rafah. The UN claimed eight days later that 15 paramedics and other aid workers, including at least one working for the UN, were killed in an IDF strike and buried in a mass grave in the city. According to the UN's office for humanitarian affairs, the Red Crescent and and other civil defense workers arrived at the scene a day later, to search for and rescue any survivors. The British Guardian had already reported that the vehicles that came under fire were clearly marked.
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New York Times video shows IDF opens fire on Gaza emergency teams
(Photo: New York Times report )
The IDF said that nine of those who were killed with operatives of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad,but the New York Times said that the military had not yet responded to the clip that was given to the paper by a senior UN official who asked to remain anonymous.
The Times said it was able to confirm the location of the alleged incident recorded in the clip. Filmed, likely from the front of a moving car, it shows visuals of a convoy of ambulances and fire trucks driving with markings and flashing lights, south, on a road north of Rafah in the early morning hours. The convoy then stops at the side of the road after it comes across a car that had veered off the road. According to the report, an ambulance had been called there earlier to treat wounded civilians.
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New York Times video shows IDF opens fire on Gaza emergency teams
(Photo: New York Times report )
People, two of them in uniform, come out of the cars and walk toward the ambulance. Immediately after, shots are fired at them and direct hits on the convoy are recorded before the clip ends in black.
The Times said the sound recording continued for an additional five minutes. They said voices of the aid workers could be heard as well as orders given to IDF soldiers, in Hebrew.
The times analyzed the satellite images taken hours after the incident, that showed five ambulances and a fire truck on the side of the road. Images taken two days later, show three IDF excavators next to mounts of dirt blocking two sides of a grave where the vehicles were buried.
The Guardian published claims that in the grave, the medics were found shot in the head execution style with their hands and feed bound.
