IDF shares the initial details of the ambulance probe Gaza, says that the troops spoke to the UN of the burial site

The Israeli defense forces admitted on Saturday evening that it had been incorrect in its initial account of an incident in the south of the Gaza Rafah last month during which the troops fired on Palestinian emergency vehicles, killing 14 or 15 doctors whose bodies were then recovered in a mass tomb.

On Saturday, the army detailed the first conclusions of its investigation into the incident which, according to him, was underway. He said that at least six of the people killed had been identified posthumously as Hamas agents, denied that the people killed had been executed and that the troops had not tried to hide the incident but had rather informed the UN of the location of the tomb.

After the incident has been revealed, the army, which accuses Hamas of joining civil infrastructure, had initially declared that the vehicles were without headlights or emergency lights, were not coordinated and arrived on the scene shortly after a group of terrorist agents. As such, the FDI said that soldiers considered them “suspects” and opened fire.

On Saturday, however, the New York Times published a video that seemed to show that emergency vehicles were clearly marked and had their emergency lights light when the FDI opened fire.

United Nations officials said 15 doctors had been killed by Israeli fires, while the soldiers said 14 people had been killed and survival.

The Palestinians accused the Israeli forces of having tried to cover the incident by burying the bodies in a tomb of mass. The assertions also emerged that some bodies had attached hands and were apparently slaughtered at close range.

After the emergence of the video On Saturday, the army said that the chief of Southern Command, Major-General Yaniv Asor, would re-examine the incident. The complete results will be presented to the FDI chief of staff the lieutenant-general Eyal Zamir on Sunday.

Results to be given to TDS chief

According to army conclusions, the incident began on March 23 in the middle of the resumption of battles in Gaza and a new offensive in the Rafah district such as Sultan.

Golani soldiers, who operated under the 14th armored brigade, had set up an ambush on a road to such sultan around 4 am at that time, the army said, several ambulances and civilians went without incident.

Around 4:30 am, a Hamas police vehicle crossed the region, and the Golani soldiers exchanged fires with the agents inside, killing one and capturing two others, said the FDI. The Hamas vehicle remained on the side of the road.

Around 6 a.m., a convoy of ambulances arrived in the region and the TSAhal soldiers opened fire, perceiving them as a threat. Drone operators flying over UAV had reported to Golani soldiers that vehicles were moving to them suspect.

The initial investigation said that the soldiers had been surprised by the convoy which stopped on the road, next to the abandoned vehicle of Hamas, and by several “suspects” jump from the convoy and run. The soldiers did not know that the suspects were, in fact, unarmed doctors.

The IDF recognized that on the basis of the video, its initial declaration claiming that the ambulances had extinguished their lights which seemed incorrect, noting that it was based on the testimony of the soldiers involved in the incident.

The new FDI investigation examines this gap.

The army also said that at least six of the bodies had been identified by intelligence officials such as Hamas agents. He had to detail the names of the six agents once the probe is concluded.

The initial results rejected the assertions that the soldiers had intentionally targeted the doctors at close range or carried out executions.

Inform the UN

The FDIs also rejected the assertion that the troops had buried the bodies in an unmarked mass tomb without informing anyone.

The leader of the Palestinian Red Red Crescent, Dr. Younis al-Khatib, said on Friday that humanitarian workers were “targeted from a very large circle” and that Israel “kept us for eight days in the dark” as for the fate of the bodies.

According to the initial army probe, an assistant battalion commander in Golani and his troops collected the bodies in one place, covered them with sand and marked the burial place.

The army said that the burial of bodies in this way was an approved and regular practice during combat in Gaza, to prevent wild dogs and other animals from eating corpses.

The United Nations was quickly informed of the place of burial, said the FDI, and we said to come and collect the bodies. The next day, however, the UN could not find the location, and the forces were not available to help because they were occupied with another task.

The UN was then called to return several days later to recover the bodies, and the bodies were finally found in coordination with the FDI, discovered the initial military probe.

The UN said that the mutilated ambulances had been found buried alongside the bodies.

Managers of the Palestinian Red Red Crescent said they would submit the video of the attack, filmed on the phone of one of the doctors killed, to the United Nations Security Council.

The FDI first recognized that it had shot ambulances and fires on March 28, five days after the incident.

The bodies of doctors, who worked for the Red Crescent, the United Nations and the Palestinian Civil Defense linked to Hamas, were recovered in the mass grave on April 1.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said that the incident was the deadliest attack on the Red Cross or Red Croisant workers since 2017.

According to the United Nations, at least 1,060 health workers were killed during the 18 months who followed the launch of Israel in Gaza in response to the October 7 of Hamas, during which around 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage by terrorists.

The FDI indicates that Hamas agents operate regularly from medical establishments.

The incident in the Tel Sultan district occurred five days after Israel restarted an intense bombing of Gaza on March 18, then launched a new offensive on the ground, breaking a cease-fire of almost two months in the war with Hamas.

Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement of January 19, the parties were to launch negotiations during the second phase a few weeks after the first, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to do so, insisting that the war would not end until the governance and military capacity of Hamas would not have been demolished. Meanwhile, Hamas rejected a series of offers to extend the first phase while continuing to gradually release the hostages.

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.