Israel Qualifies as “Error” Assassination of 15 Palestinian Paramedics
The amulancias of the team killed covered with sand and destroyed. Photo: X/ @EuroMedHR
April 20, 2025 Hour: 2:13 pm
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), blatantly acknowledged “operational misunderstandings” and “errors” in the killing by Israeli fire of 15 paramedics, rescuers and UN personnel in Gaza on 23 March.
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In a summary of the military investigation into what happened that day in the southern town of Ráfah, the findings of which will be forwarded to the Israeli Public Prosecutor’s Office, it is explained that there were several Israeli shootings against the ambulance convoy, the fire truck and UN vehicle that were attacked, in which members of the Gaza Red Crescent and Civil Defence were travelling.
The report investigates two shootings by Israeli troops in Gaza: the first, allegedly against vehicles of the resistance movement to the Zionist occupation, Hamas, and the second, an hour later, against ambulances and a fire truck that came to the scene.
The sub-commander who ordered the attack justified the second shooting by perceiving an “immediate threat” by the rapid approach and descent of people from medical vehicles near his troops.
The sub-commander maintains his version that the vehicles belonged to Hamas even though they were properly marked as equipment for health workers with their respective emergency lights.
“In the face of this impression and sense of threat, he ordered to open fire,” he says, and accuses the “poor night visibility” of not initially recognizing the vehicles as ambulances. ” Only later, after approaching them and examining them, it was discovered that they were indeed rescue teams”, the report says.
A third attack took place 15 minutes later, when a UN vehicle arrived and was also shot at. One of the dead that day was a UN member. The investigation said that this third incident involved a “violation of orders during combat”.
On the handling of the bodies and vehicles after the deadly attack revealed that, while the removal and covering of the bodies was considered reasonable, the shredding of the vehicles was a mistake.
The bodies could not be rescued from the site by the affected organisms until a week later, when they were found buried in sand and next to destroyed vehicles.
The IDF dismissed the Deputy Commander of the 14th Brigade of the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion because of his responsibilities as field commander in an unspecified incident and for providing an “incomplete and inaccurate” report. The dismissal occurred after it was revealed that initial information provided by the military on the ground about the incident was erroneous, contradicting evidence from a video recorded at the site.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: EFE