Key Points
- Fifteen aid workers were killed by Israel on 23 March.
- Initial Israeli claims stated the aid workers approached in vehicles without lights, prompting suspicion.
- Video footage of the killings show the vehicles were marked with lights on.
The Israeli military has provided new details that changed its initial account of the killing of 15 emergency workers near the southern Gaza city of Rafah last month but said investigators were still examining the evidence.
The 15 paramedics and emergency responders were shot dead on 23 March and buried in a shallow grave where their bodies were found a week later by officials from the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Another man is still missing.
The military initially said soldiers had opened fire on vehicles that approached their position "suspiciously" in the dark without lights or markings.
It said they killed nine militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were travelling in Palestinian Red Crescent vehicles.
But video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the dead men and published by the Palestinian Red Crescent showed emergency workers in their uniforms and clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks, with their lights on, being fired on by soldiers.
The only known survivor of the incident, Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic Munther Abed, also said he had seen soldiers opening fire on clearly marked emergency response vehicles.
Israel says 'initial account is mistaken'
An Israeli military official said on Sunday AEST the investigators were examining the video and conclusions were expected to be presented to army commanders on Monday AEST.
He said the initial report received from the field did not describe lights but that investigators were looking at "operational information" and were trying to understand if this was due to an error by the person making the initial report.
"What we understand currently is the person who gives the initial account is mistaken. We're trying to understand why," he said.
Israeli media briefed by the military reported troops had identified at least six of the 15 dead as members of militant groups.
However, the official declined to provide any evidence or detail of how the identifications were made, saying he did not want to share classified information.
"According to our information, there were terrorists there but this investigation is not over," the Israeli military official told reporters at the briefing.
The UN and Palestinian Red Crescent have demanded an independent inquiry into the killing of the paramedics.
Red Crescent and UN officials have said 17 paramedics and emergency workers from the Red Crescent, the Civil Emergency service and the UN had been dispatched to respond to reports of injuries from Israeli airstrikes.
Apart from Abed, who was detained for several hours before being released, another worker is still missing.
The UN said last week that available information indicated one team was killed by Israeli forces and other emergency and aid crews were killed one after another over several hours as they searched for their missing colleagues.
Palestinian Red Crescent spokesperson Nebal Farsakh, said: "We need justice for the victims and we need to ensure that all of those who are responsible are held to account."
"Without this, the crimes will continue to happen."
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), 408 aid workers, including more than 280 UNRWA staff, have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023. Source: Getty / Abdallah F.s. Alattar / Anadolu
As time passed, several vehicles passed along the road until, at around 6am, he said troops received word from aerial surveillance that a suspicious group of vehicles was approaching.
"They feel this is another incident like what happened at 4am [local time] and they opened fire," the official said.
He said aerial surveillance footage showed the troops were at some distance when they opened fire, and he denied reports that the troops handcuffed at least some of the paramedics and shot them at close range.
He said the soldiers had approached the group they had shot, identifying at least some of them as militants. However he did not explain what evidence had prompted the assessment.
He said the troops had informed the UN of the incident on the same day and initially covered the bodies with camouflage netting until they could be recovered.
"There was no incident where the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] tried to cover up. On the contrary, they called the UN immediately."
Later, when the UN did not immediately come to take the bodies, the soldiers covered them with sand to stop animals from getting at them, the official said.
He said the vehicles were pushed out of the way by a heavy engineering vehicle to clear the road, but he could not explain why the vehicles were crushed by the engineering vehicle and then buried.
The UN confirmed last week that it had been informed of the location of the bodies but that access to the area was denied by Israel for several days. It said the bodies had been buried alongside their crushed vehicles — clearly marked ambulances, a fire truck and a UN car.
