Probe points to lapses in killings of Gaza medics

An Israeli probe into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Gaza by Israeli forces said on Sunday it has found “professional failures” and a deputy commander will be fired.

Israel at first claimed that the medics’ vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire but later backtracked. Cellphone video recovered from one of the medics contradicted Israel’s initial account.

The military investigation found that the deputy battalion commander, “due to poor night visibility”, assessed that the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants. Video footage obtained from the incident shows the ambulances had lights flashing.

Eight Red Crescent personnel, six Civil Defence workers and a UN staffer were killed in the shooting before dawn on March 23 by troops conducting operations in Tel al-Sultan, a district of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The Israeli military investigation said the Palestinians were killed due to an “operational misunderstanding” by Israeli forces, and that a separate incident 15 minutes later, when Israeli soldiers shot at a Palestinian UN vehicle, was a breach of orders.