An Israeli investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Gaza by Israeli forces said Sunday it found a chain of "professional failures," and a deputy commander will be fired—one of the most severe punishments of the 18-month war. Israel at first claimed that the medics' vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire but later backtracked. Cellphone video recovered from one medic contradicted Israel's initial account, the AP reports. The military investigation found that the deputy battalion commander, "due to poor night visibility," assessed that the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants.
Video footage obtained shows the ambulances had lights flashing and logos visible as they pulled up to help another ambulance that came under fire earlier. The teams do not appear to be acting unusually or in a threatening manner as three medics emerge and head toward it. Their vehicles immediately come under a barrage of gunfire that goes on for more than five minutes with brief pauses. Bodies were buried in a mass grave. Eight Red Crescent personnel, six Civil Defense workers, and a UN staffer 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, per the AP.
The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said the men were "targeted at close range." The Israeli military investigation said the examination found "no evidence to support claims of execution or that any of the deceased were bound before or after the shooting." It said that 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. The deputy commander who will be dismissed was the first to open fire. No paramedic was armed and no weapons were found in any vehicle, Maj. Gen Yoav Har-Even, in charge of the military's investigative branch, told journalists
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