A video recovered on the mobile phone of a Palestinian doctor killed with 14 of his colleagues in Gaza last month contradicts Israeli claims.
The video – found on the phone of the deceased Rifat Radwan and published Saturday by Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) – shows their last moments as Palestinian doctors, wearing highly reflective uniforms and inside a clearly identifiable PRCS ambulance, are turned by Israeli forces in Rafah.
The Israeli army said that its soldiers “had randomly attacked” no ambulance, insisting that they had shot “terrorists” who approached them in “suspicious vehicles”. He said: “Several non -coordinated vehicles have been identified, advancing troops (from the Israeli army) with suspicion without headlights or emergency signals”.
The PRCs have lost eight of its workers in the attack. Six members of the Palestinian Civil Defense Agency and an employee of the United Nations Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, were also killed that day.
Their bodies were found buried near Rafah in what the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs Coordination (OCHA) described as a mass tomb.
What does the video show?
The video, apparently filmed from the inside of a moving vehicle, captures a red firefighter and ambulances that cross the night.
The vehicles stop next to each other on the side of the road and two men in uniform come out. A few moments later, intense shots burst out.
In the video, the voices of two doctors are heard – one saying: “The vehicle, the vehicle” and another respondent: “It seems to be an accident”.
A few seconds later, a volley of shots bursts and the screen turns black.
The doctor registering the scene may later be heard reciting the Islamic declaration of faith, the Shahada, which Muslims traditionally say in the face of death. “There is no God that God, Muhammad is his messenger,” he said on several occasions, his trembling voice of fear while the intense shots continue in the background.
We also hear say: “Forgive me mother because I chose this way, the way of helping people.” He then said: “Accept my martyrdom, God, and forgive me.”
Just before the end of the video, we hear: “The Jews arrive, the Jews arrive”, apparently referring to Israeli soldiers.
The PRCs said the convoy had been sent to the emergency calls for civilians trapped following an Israeli bombing in Rafah.
According to the spokesperson for the Civil Defense of Gaza, Mahmoud Bassal, several members of their team were found with their hands and their feet linked and visible ball wounds on the head and torso, suggesting that they were executed at close range after being identified for their humanitarian work. One of the members of civil defense staff had been beheaded and the remaining bodies were found in pieces, he said.
Jonathan Whittall, the OCHA chief on Palestinian territory, said that the bodies of humanitarian workers were “in their uniforms, still carrying gloves” when they were found.
An Israeli military official said that the bodies had been covered with “sand and fabric” to avoid damage until coordination with international organizations can be organized for their recovery. The soldiers added that he was investigating the attack.
“ Not parallel in modern history ”
Israel “must be held responsible for his crimes, who have no parallel in modern history,” said a spokesman for the Civil Defense of Gaza on Saturday.
“We demand the formation of an international investigation committee on targeting by paramedical paramedics by paramedics,” said the spokesperson, adding that Palestinian rescuers will continue to “pay their functions despite their deliberate targeting of the occupation”.
In a press release on Saturday, the Gaza government media office said the Israeli army had carried out “brutal and unprecedented” execution of medical and civil defense teams, appealing “another crime added to the black occupation”.
He said that the video “completely refutes the false and deceptive story of the Israeli occupation” that the vehicles approached “suspect” without clear signals.
The Palestinian group of Hamas said on Saturday that “irrefutable visual evidence breaks the” suspicious movement “manufactured from the occupation, proving a systematic targeting of humanitarian staff and constituting a premeditated murder under international law”.
“We demand international justice for the victims of this heinous crime,” he said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk also condemned the attack, which raises concerns concerning the “war crimes” by the Israeli army.
“I am dismayed by the recent murders of 15 members of medical staff and humanitarian workers, who raise new concerns concerning the War Crimes Commission by the Israeli army,” Volker Turk told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, calling for an “independent, rapid and in -depth investigation”.
According to UNRWA, at least 408 humanitarian workers, including more than 280 UNRWA employees, have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7, 2023. Since then, more than 50,000 Palestinians, most of them, children and women, were killed in the enclave.
