The Israeli Army says it's dismissed a deputy commander over the killing of 14 Palestinian medics and a UN worker in Gaza last month following its own investigation into what happened. It said troops opened fire believing the vehicles were being used by Hamas. Images filmed by one of the medics who died showed the convoy traveling at night with flashing emergency lights contradicting Israel's previous version of events.
The killings caused international outrage and there are calls for an independent inquiry. Paul Adams reports. Hey Marie, mer.
It's been 4 weeks since a convoy of rescue vehicles raced through the pre-dawn darkness to help colleagues ambushed by Israeli soldiers an hour earlier. One of the paramedics, Rifat Radwan, heard apologizing to his mother and saying his prayers moments before he died. The Israeli military has taken its time coming up with a coherent account of what happened in the early hours of March the 23rd.
It now admits that its soldiers did mistakenly kill the rescue workers, but it says that the soldiers believed that they were operating in a situation of real danger. The soldiers, we're told, thought they were dealing with Hamas, which has used ambulances as cover in the past. But in the dark, the commander made fatal mistakes.
The examination determined that the fire in the first two incidents resulted from an operational misunderstanding by the troops who believed they faced a tangible threat from enemy forces. The third incident involved a breach of orders. The IDF regrets the harm caused to uninvolved civilians.
We're now looking for the bodies. When Israel finally allowed the UN to visit the site 4 days later, grim discoveries. Bodies dumped in a mass grave.
Vehicles mangled and buried in the sand. Israel is adamant it was not trying to hide the evidence. The paramedics were not tied up or executed.
Despite early rumors, Palestinian forensic investigators aren't claiming this either. We found the entry and exit points of gunshot wounds, mostly in the torso between the chest and abdomen. In three cases, the wounds were in the head.
One of the surviving paramedics, Assad al-Nasra, is still being held by Israel. His family waiting for news. When we heard Assad was detained, we were slightly relieved, but we don't know what prison he was taken to or how he is being treated.
So, we are still very worried. Tonight, a spokeswoman for the Palestine Red Crescent rejected Israel's findings. The report, she said, was full of lies.
[Music] Israel says six of the paramedics it killed were also members of Hamas and it says it plans to name them. And at this afternoon's briefings briefing officials showed us aerial footage which indicated that several other vehicles including an ambulance were not shot at as they passed by in the hour between the first and second ambushes. proof.
The Israelis say that its troops don't simply open fire on medical vehicles unless they feel threatened.
