The Palestine Red Crescent Society has called for an independent international inquiry into Israel’s killing of 15 emergency workers in southern Gaza. The organisation released the full video found on the phone of one of its eight paramedics who died when troops fired at a convoy of ambulances on 23 March, which it said constituted a “fully fledged war crime”. Israel’s military said on Monday that a preliminary inquiry indicated troops “opened fire due to a perceived threat following a previous encounter in the area, and that six of the individuals killed in the incident were identified as Hamas terrorists”, without giving evidence.
A Red Crescent paramedic who survived has denied his colleagues were linked with any armed groups. The Israeli military initially said its troops fired on “suspicious vehicles” driving with their lights off. On Saturday, it admitted that initial version of events was “mistaken” after the last part of the paramedic’s video was released showing the convoy was using its emergency lights.
The 18-minute video released on Monday was filmed by paramedic Rifaat Radwan. The emergency vehicles pull over and the sound of gunfire begins just as Radwan gets out. It continues for more than five minutes and Radwan is heard saying his last prayers, before the voices of Israeli soldiers are heard approaching.
The Red Crescent said on Wednesday that the video showed “this was neither a random incident nor an individual error, but rather a series of deliberate attacks”. The society insisted the area had not been classified by the Israeli military as a “red zone”, which meant no prior co-ordination was required to access the site, and that the video showed that Israeli military vehicles had not been visible in the area.
It also said preliminary forensic reports showed that the medics were killed by “multiple gunshot wounds to the upper parts of the bodies”, which it described as “further evidence of deliberate killing”. The society’s president Dr Younes al-Khatib called for an independent international investigation into the incident and for those responsible to be held accountable.
“We’ll pursue this issue until the end. For us, these 15 men represent all those who were killed for the sake of saving lives, for the sake of humanity,” he said. “And justice was not brought to them. We hope this time and through these 15 men, we can bring justice.”
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