Video showing final moments of Gaza emergency workers casts doubt on Israeli account of killings

A video has emerged showing the final moments of more than a dozen Palestinian emergency workers shot dead by Israeli troops in Gaza last month, casting doubt on Israeli claims that soldiers opened fire on vehicles “advancing suspiciously.”

A video has emerged showing the final moments of more than a dozen Palestinian emergency workers shot dead by Israeli troops in Gaza last month, casting doubt on Israeli claims that soldiers opened fire on vehicles “advancing suspiciously.” The video is filmed from the front of a vehicle and shows a convoy of clearly marked ambulances moving along a road at dawn, with headlights and flashing emergency lights on. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says the video was found on the phone of one of the 15 ambulance and relief team members killed by the Israeli military. Their bodies were found in a mass grave more than a week after they were reported as missing. Eight of the 14 bodies recovered from the site in the southern Rafah area were identified as members of the PRCS, five as civil defense, and one as a UN agency employee, PRCS said in a statement. The deaths sparked international condemnation, and the footage appears to contradict the assertion by the Israeli military that some vehicles were moving suspiciously without lights. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) asserted last week that “several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals. IDF troops then opened fire at the suspected vehicles.”