An internal investigation by the Israeli army admitted on Sunday, April 20 “professional failures”, “disobedience” and “misunderstandings” during the shooting that cost the lives of 15 Palestinian rescuers in March in the Gaza Strip, a report reported as a lie for the average red average.
If the investigation concluded that the Israeli soldiers had not opened “blind” fire, the army announced the next dismissal of an officer and “regretted” the collateral victims.
A “full of errors” report, according to Ramallah Rouge Croissant
“We say it was a mistake, but we do not believe it is an error that happens every day,” said Reserve General Yoav Har-Aven at a press conference.
For its part, Nbal Farsakh, spokesman for the average medicine in Ramallah, in an occupied West Bank, punished AFP a “truffled error”, “no and not Avenue” report because “justifies murders and attributes the responsibility of the incident to a personal error in the field.”
On March 23, a few days after the resumption of their offensive in the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops had shot Civil Defense and Red Crescent teams in Rafah, in the south of the Palestinian territory.
The shooting had raised a wave of international indignation, the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, Volker Türk, evoking a possible “war crime.” Israel said that six members of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that its army is fighting in retaliation for the unprecedented attack of October 7, 2023, were aboard the ambulances.
Disobedience to orders and failures
“The investigation has highlighted several professional failures, disobedience to orders and a violation of completely explaining the incident,” said the Israeli army on Sunday. The officer who commanded the unit on the ground that day will be noted for his duties, he said.
The victims were eight members of the Red Crescent, six members of the Civil Defense in Gaza and Member of UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees. The bodies had been found several days after the shooting, buried in the sand, in what the UN Humanitarian Affairs Office (Ocha) called “common well.”
“The troops did not open blind fire, but remained on alert to react to real threats they had identified,” said the army.
The survey “has not discovered any index that supports the accusations of execution or indicating that some of the victims had been tied,” he added. On April 7, the president of the Palestinian Red Crescent in West Bank, Young al-Khatib, said rescuers had been “affected at the top of their bodies, with the intention of killing.”
Six of the victims identified as Hamas members
The investigation reaffirms that six of the 15 victims were “retrospectively” identified as members of Hamas, they assured the army, which “regrets the damage caused to noted civilians.”
All the victims had uniforms of rescuers and were no weapon, he said. Two rescuers survived the shooting, one of which “is still detained” according to the army that did not provide its identity.
On April 13, the Palestine Red Crescent said it had been informed that an ambulancer, Asaad Al-Asasrah, had been “eliminated” after this episode and that the Israeli authorities stopped him.
“If the incident occurred by mistake as the report states, why does Israel still have the rescuer?” Said Nbal Farsakh on Sunday.
“Misunderstood operation”
Immediately after the facts, the army said that his soldiers had received information informing that a convoy “moved to darkness in a suspicious way towards them,” he became extinct, which encouraged them to open fire from afar.
A video recovered from the mobile phone of a victim and transmitted by the half -network Crescent had contradicted this version: we see ambulances that circulate the headlights and the lights.
“We do not introduce ourselves, unfortunately we make mistakes,” said Army spokesman Effie Defrin on Sunday.
According to the army, the shooting occurred in three stages. The soldiers first would have triggered a vehicle identified as belonging to Hamas, then an hour later in a fire and ambulances truck, and about 15 minutes later in a UN vehicle.
“The investigation concluded that the shots in the first two incidents were the result of a misunderstanding of the troops, who thought they faced a true threat of enemy forces,” said the army. “The third incident implied a violation of orders in the context of the struggle,” he adds.
Source: BFM TV
