ISRAEL has admitted “professional failures” by troops after an investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics buried in a mass grave in Gaza - weeks after they were forced to backtrack over claims made about the deaths.
At first, Israel claimed that the medics’ vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire.
However, video emerged showing the Red Crescent and Civil Defence teams driving slowly with lights flashing and logos visible, as they pulled up to help another ambulance that had earlier come under fire.
Israel has now said that a deputy commander will be fired, and claimed the military investigation found the commander, “due to poor night visibility”, assessed that the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants.
In the video, the medics do not appear to be acting unusually or in a threatening manner as three team members emerge and head toward the stricken ambulance.
Their vehicles immediately come under a barrage of gunfire that goes on for more than five minutes with brief pauses.
Eight Red Crescent personnel, six civil defence workers and a UN staff member were killed in the shooting before dawn on March 23 by troops conducting operations in Tel al-Sultan, a district of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Troops then bulldozed over the bodies along with their mangled vehicles, burying them in a mass grave.
UN and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later to dig out the bodies.
The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said the men were “targeted at close range”.
The Israeli military investigation said the Palestinians were killed because of an “operational misunderstanding” by Israeli forces, and that a separate incident 15 minutes later, when Israeli soldiers shot at a Palestinian UN vehicle, was a breach of orders.
It was not clear whether the military investigation found that any of those killed were Hamas militants. Israel’s military initially said nine were militants.
The investigation found that the decision to crush the ambulances was wrong but denied that there was an attempt to conceal 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,” it added.
The statement on the findings concluded by saying that Israel’s military “regrets the harm caused to uninvolved civilians”.
The investigation’s findings have been turned over to the Military Advocate General, which can decide whether to file charges. It is meant to be an independent body, with oversight by Israel’s attorney general and Supreme Court.
There are no outside investigations of the killings underway.
