The Israeli army said that “professional failures” led to the murder of 15 emergency workers in Gaza last month.
An investigation into the incident by the Israel Defense Forces (FDI) found a series of faults, including an “operational misunderstanding” and a “violation of orders”.
The deputy commander of the involved unit was rejected “for providing an incomplete and inaccurate report during the debrief”.
A spokesperson for Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRC) said that the report was “invalid” because he “justifies and moves the responsibility for a personal error in the field command when the truth is very different”.
Fourteen emergency workers and a United Nations worker was killed on March 23 after a convoy of PRC ambulances, a United Nations car and a fire truck were criticized by the Israeli army.
In a statement, the FDIs said that his troops had opened fire believing that they were facing a threat from enemy forces.
The FDI said that his investigation had revealed that six of the victims were members of Hamas and refused to have been summary executions.
He did not produce evidence of an affiliation in Hamas, despite the names of people killed in the public domain.
The report indicates that the incident took place in what it called a “hostile and dangerous combat zone”, and that the field commander received an immediate and tangible threat after the vehicles approached quickly.
He blamed the “bad night visibility”, which, according to the FDI, meant that the commander had not identified vehicles as ambulances.
Another commander “will receive a reprimand” for “his global responsibility for the incident,” added the report.
Israel had originally stated that the troops had opened fire because the convoy approached “suspicion” in the dark without headlights or flashing lights. He said the vehicle movement had not been coordinated or agreed with the army.
But he later said that the account was “wrong” after a video found on the mobile phone of a doctor who was killed showed the vehicles with their light lights and that their emergency signals flash.
The images show that the vehicles stop on the road when the shooting begins just before dawn.
The video continues for more than five minutes, the paramedical saying that its last prayers before the voices of the Israeli soldiers got along with vehicles.
It also shows that vehicles were clearly marked and that paramedical paramedics carrying a reflective uniform.
The bodies of the 15 dead workers were buried in sand. They were only discovered only a week after the incident, because international agencies, including the UN, could not organize a safe visit to the region or locate the spot.
The FDI also confirmed that it had a PRCS doctor whom he had owned following the incident. They did not confirm its name, but the International Committee of the Red Cross Previously, the named Assad al-Nassasra.
The Red Crescent and several other international organizations previously called for an independent Incident survey.
The FDI’s decision to dismiss an commander and to discipline another senior officer is not unknown – the army rejected two officers and took measures against others after seven workers in the world’s central cuisine were killed in April of last year.
Israel launched its first major operation in Rafah in May 2024, leaving large parts in ruins. Tens of thousands of people returned to what remained of their house in the city during a recent two-month-old ceasefire.
Israel renewed its offensive in Gaza on March 18 after the first phase of the ceasefire agreement ended and negotiations on a second phase of the agreement are in a standstill.
Israel launched its campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross -border attack on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 51,201 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas in the territory.
