It’s virtually 5 a.m. on March 23 in Rafah, southern Gaza. Two Purple Crescent medics are out trying to find a lacking ambulance crew. Driving is Asaad al-Nasasra and sitting beside him and filming is Rifaat Radwan. Each have labored with the Purple Crescent for years. Rifaat worries their lacking colleagues have come below assault. They haven’t heard from them for an hour. They’ll quickly uncover that Israeli troopers have fired on the crew, killing two of them. Earlier than lengthy, Rifaat may even be killed together with 12 different workers from the Purple Crescent, Civil Protection and the United Nations. The New York Instances obtained Rifaat’s footage and reconstructed second by second how this unprovoked assault unfolded. We synchronized his video with one other telephone recording from the scene. We reviewed post-mortem reviews and pictures of the our bodies and we interviewed eyewitnesses. Our investigation reveals how Israeli troopers fired repeatedly on unarmed medics, closed in round them and continued capturing for greater than six minutes, at the same time as a number of of the crew had been nonetheless alive, sporting their uniforms and praying. Investigating itself, the I.D.F. has mentioned there have been skilled failures and dismissed the deputy commander who was concerned. However impartial specialists say that to knowingly assault medics is a breach of the legal guidelines of warfare. Days earlier than the assault, Israel had damaged the cease-fire in Gaza with intense airstrikes after negotiations with Hamas to launch hostages broke down. Floor forces had moved into Rafah, and on the night time in query, the I.D.F. says it arrange an ambush on this street forward of an evacuation order to flush out suspected militants when folks moved. Purple Crescent crews had been working in a single day to rescue casualties from a close-by airstrike. However when one crew goes lacking, others, together with Asaad and Rifaat, are despatched out to seek out them. Within the darkness, they initially don’t see the lacking ambulance. It had been passing by right here simply an hour earlier when the Israeli unit opened fireplace on it. They killed the 2 medics sitting within the entrance, Ezz al-Deen Shath and Mustafa Khafaja, and detained a 3rd medic, Munther Abed, who survived. He informed us what occurred. Munther informed us he was stripped and crushed. The I.D.F. mentioned it thought the ambulance was a Hamas automobile, and has lengthy contended that Hamas makes use of ambulances to move weapons and fighters. Again on the street, Rifaat and Asaad cross the Israeli troopers with out incident and meet up with different medics who had been additionally out looking. Saleh Muammar, who was driving the opposite ambulance, says he noticed our bodies on the bottom. They prepared the ambulances to return, however Saleh worries they are going to be attacked in the event that they transfer forward with out extra automobiles. A Civil Protection ambulance and fireplace engine joined them. And so they proceed on as a convoy. Overhead, an Israeli drone is watching them. The I.D.F. later mentioned {that a} drone operator informed troopers on the bottom the convoy was advancing suspiciously, however they’re clearly marked as emergency companies. And the automobiles are flashing their lights, which troopers might see, the I.D.F. later informed us. The medics pull in. Round 20 I.D.F. troopers are positioned right here, 100 toes off the roadside. Virtually the entire first responders are clearly marked in reflective gear. They’re unarmed and shifting away from the I.D.F. Rifaat sees his colleagues our bodies. As they rush to rescue them, they’re met by a hail of gunfire. [gunshots] Rifaat scrambles to the motive force’s aspect and is shielded for now by the ambulance. He begins to hope. In complete, Rifaat movies virtually six minutes of gunfire. We produced a condensed timeline that offers an perception into the I.D.F.’s actions. After the primary barrage comes a 20-second pause. Rifaat repeats the Shahada — a declaration of religion that Muslims additionally say as they face demise. An ambulance tries to flee. However one other hail of gunfire erupts. We hear steady single pictures. Then computerized fireplace. One other pause. First responders may be heard screaming. Then one other barrage from a number of rifles. None of those medics are armed, and the entire fireplace is coming from the I.D.F. A protracted pause, Rifaat asks his mom’s forgiveness. Regular gunfire, nearer to Rifaat, now, for the complete minute. An ambulance is shot at. Medics had been nonetheless inside among the automobiles. One in all them, Ashraf Abu Labda — telephones a Purple Crescent dispatcher who information the decision. We synchronized Ashraf’s name with Rifaat’s video to higher perceive what they each had been seeing. Israeli troopers seem to strategy, shouting in Hebrew, but it surely’s unclear what they’re saying. Each Ashraf and Rifaat see them across the similar time. From Ashraf’s telephone name, gradual, deliberate pictures are heard now. An Israeli soldier orders his troops. Ashraf hangs up. Amid the emergency automobiles, Rifaat’s telephone is positioned right here. Three audio specialists who analyzed his recording decided that the troopers start capturing as much as 150 toes away. This aligns with the place witnesses noticed the I.D.F. positioned and the place it constructed sand barricades. Because the capturing continues, the gunfire closes in to inside 60, 50 after which 40 toes of Rifaat by Minute 6 of the assault. Drone footage the I.D.F. confirmed The Instances confirms that the troopers moved in. Rifaat was nonetheless alive right now. He was shot a number of occasions, his post-mortem confirmed. And inside this ambulance, Ashraf was additionally alive. He was shot within the chest. A witness with a transparent view of what occurred, Saeed al-Bardawil, a civilian who was detained and held with the I.D.F. troops earlier than the assault on the convoy. Saeed says that I.D.F. reinforcements later got here, after which troopers shot first responders as they lay on the bottom. Minutes after the capturing, a clearly marked United Nations automobile occurred on the scene. The I.D.F. fired on it too, killing Kamal Shahtout, a U.N. worker who was on his method to rescue colleagues injured in one other assault. Saeed says he noticed the I.D.F. then bury each the our bodies and automobiles. The I.D.F. mentioned this was not performed to hide the assault, however in The Instances’s expertise of reporting on its actions in Gaza, burying our bodies and automobiles will not be one thing the I.D.F. usually does. Crushing the automobiles was an operational error, the I.D.F. informed us. “Why did you conceal the our bodies? Why and why? They need to reply for that.” Younis Al-Khatib, the pinnacle of the Purple Crescent, informed us that for the subsequent 5 days he begged the I.D.F. for data on the whereabouts of their lacking workers. However the I.D.F. wouldn’t reply. Lastly, the U.N., Purple Crescent and Civil Protection obtained entry to the location. It took two days to get better the medics’ our bodies and automobiles. The Instances reviewed autopsies and pictures of the our bodies, which confirmed that many of the victims died from a number of gunshot wounds, together with to the neck and torso. Three of the Civil Protection crew had been shot within the head. A Civil Protection helmet discovered there confirmed obvious bullet holes. Two our bodies had been lacking, limbs, probably shorn by the bulldozers burying them, and virtually the entire Purple Crescent and Civil Protection had been sporting their uniforms partly or in complete. For the reason that assault, Israel has given shifting variations of occasions that the proof contradicts. It initially mentioned the medics had been advancing suspiciously, however they by no means posed a menace. It mentioned that the automobiles had been with out headlights or emergency indicators, however modified that story two weeks later when The Instances revealed Rifaat’s video. It mentioned the world was a fight zone. It wasn’t till the I.D.F. declared it so hours after the assault. It named and mentioned it killed a Hamas participant in Oct. 7. His household informed us he’s alive in Gaza and he has no connection to the Purple Crescent or Civil Protection. And it took weeks for the I.D.F. to confess it was detaining Asaad al-Nasasra, the medic driving alongside Rifaat, who survived. He was launched after 37 days, having been denied entry to a lawyer and his household. The I.D.F. has now launched the outcomes of its personal investigation. It says there was a collection of operational misunderstandings that began with misidentifying the primary ambulance as a Hamas automobile, and believing the convoy had been Hamas reinforcements. It mentioned Hamas has beforehand used ambulances. It mentioned the deputy battalion commander, probably the most senior officer current, was the primary to open fireplace on the convoy. He has been dismissed. However as soon as the capturing began, the opposite troopers adopted process, the I.D.F. informed us, at the same time as they fired for six minutes unchallenged. Specialists within the legal guidelines of warfare, together with Janina Dill of Oxford College, informed us that attacking medics who pose no menace is a probable warfare crime. One other professional, who has lengthy studied assaults on well being care, says this isn’t an remoted incident. “This incident was a part of a a lot bigger sample the place U.N. convoys, Medical doctors With out Borders, ambulances, humanitarian automobiles, have all been shot at a number of occasions with many individuals killed and injured.” The I.D.F. is happy that nothing wants to alter in its orders to troopers, which it described as glorious. The troopers concerned on this assault had been from the Golani Brigade’s elite reconnaissance unit. A current speech made by a commander of that brigade is an instance of the kinds of orders these troopers could obtain. Even after 50,000 folks have been killed in Gaza, this assault drew worldwide condemnation. The businesses the slain medics labored for rejected the I.D.F.’s findings, and have referred to as for an impartial investigation.
Source link