The Israeli army provided new details that changed the initial description of the killing of 15 rescue workers near the city of Rafah in southern Gaza last month, but found that investigators were still studying evidence.
15 paramedics and rescuers were shot on March 23 and buried in a shallow grave, where their bodies were found a week later by officials from the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent. There is still a lack of another man.
The army initially said that the soldiers opened fire to vehicles that approached their position “suspiciously” in the dark without lights and markings. He said that they killed nine fighters from Hamas and Islamic jihad, who traveled on Palestinian vehicles of the red crescent.
But the video recovered from the cell phone of one of the dead men and published by the Palestinian Red Crescent showed rescuers in their uniforms and clearly marked ambulance ambulances and fire trucks, with lights on, dismissed by soldiers.
The only well -known survivor of this incident, Palestinian Cratrising from the Red Crescent Munther Abed, also said that he saw soldiers opening the fire on clearly marked emergency response vehicles.
The Israeli military official said at the end of Saturday that investigators studied video and the conclusions were to be presented to army commanders on Sunday.
No mention of the lights on vehicles
He said that the initial report received from the field did not describe the lights, but the investigators were looking for “operational information” and tried to understand whether it was caused by a mistake by the person introducing the initial report.
“We now understand the person who gives the initial account is confused. We are trying to understand why.”
Israeli media informed by the army informed that the troops identified at least six of 15 dead as members of combat groups. However, the official refused to provide all evidence or details regarding the introduction of identification, saying that he did not want to provide classified information.
“There were terrorists”
“According to our information, terrorists were there, but this investigation was not over,” he told journalists during the briefing on Saturday.
The UN and Palestinian Red Crescent demanded an independent investigation into the killing of paramedics.
Red Crescent and UN officials said that 17 paramedics and rescuers from the red crescent, civil rescue service and the UN were sent to respond to reports of injuries from Israeli air raids.
In addition to Abed, who was detained a few hours before the dismissal, there is still a lack of another employee.
The UN said last week that the available information indicated that one team was killed by Israeli forces, and other emergency and aid teams were killed one after the other for a few hours, looking for missing colleagues.
Vehicles shot from air supervision
The military official said that the initial findings from the investigation showed that the soldiers opened a fire in the vehicle around 4 am, killing two members of Hamas internal safety forces and taking another prisoner who said that the official confessed to the interrogation in Hamas.
Over time, several vehicles passed the road, as much as around 6 am he said that the soldiers received a message from air supervision, that a suspicious group of vehicles was approaching.
“They think that this is another incident, such as what happened at 4 am and they opened fire,” said the official.
Soldiers “opened fire from afar”
He said that the material from the air flight showed that the soldiers were at a distance when they opened the fire and denied the report that the soldiers caught at least some paramedics and shot them closely.
“It is not from the end. They opened fire from afar,” he said. “There is no bad treatment of people there.”
He said that the soldiers approached the group they shot, identifying at least some of them as fighters. However, he did not explain what evidence caused the assessment.
“In their eyes they had a meeting with terrorists, this is a successful meeting with terrorists.”
He said that the soldiers informed the UN about the incident on the same day and initially cover the bodies with camouflage mesh until they can be recovered.