The new video appears to show the moment when a team of humanitarian workers were ambushed and killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
The newly emerged video footage appears to contradict previous statements by Israeli military regarding two groups of health workers who were ambushed and killed in Gaza last month.
Two separate emergency teams were dispatched on March 23 to retrieve casualties after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched an attack on the Tel Al-Sultan area of Rafa city in the Gaza Strip.
The first emergency team was dispatched around noon, and a second time was sent late in the evening to investigate after the first team disappeared and had never heard of it.
That second team also disappeared, and the aid workers were not permitted by the IDF near the area for another five days. On March 30, the bodies of 15 aid workers and their four vehicles were recovered from mass graves, believed to have been created by Israeli bulldozers.
Those killed included eight red crescent moon staff, six civil defense workers and UN staff.
The IDF has begun investigating the incident. Originally, the events harbored sparks when Israeli forces were approached by Hamas terrorists traveling in aid vans without lighting under the cover of darkness.
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The video from a cell phone on one of the bodies of the aid workers appears to be inconsistent with the account.
A new phone video released by Red Crescent on April 4 shows that Red Crescent and the rescue convoy of civil defense vehicles were sent after being sent after contacting the first ambulance.
The video was recorded by one of the aid workers from behind the dashboard of one of the vehicles that was later found in the mass graves. Several ambulances and fire trucks travel down the road through barren areas in the darkness, everything flashing emergency lights all the way through.
The fleet arrives at the scene of another ambulance that appears to have been attacked earlier in the day. With the assisted worker dressed in orange and reflective clothing and the emergency vehicle lights still on, we begin to inspect the scene. The Israeli army is invisible.
At that point, a shot rings and one of the men appears to be lying down. The shooting then erupts and lasts for several minutes. I hear that men are screaming and asking for help. The camera view is disrupted and you can hear the film pray until it is suddenly cut short.
Mawanjirani, vice president of the Palestinian Red Crescent Association, said the phone with footage was in the pocket of one of the murder staff at the scene. The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations distributed the video to the UN Security Council.
The IDF said that after the shooting, the troops determined that they had killed Hamas, named Mohammed Amin Shobaki and eight other terrorists. None of the 15 Medics whose bodies were recovered were by their names.
The IDF has since said it is investigating the incident, including all new documents in circulation.
“All claims, including documents regarding the incident, will be thoroughly and deeply considered to understand the handling of the series of events and circumstances,” an IDF spokesperson said.
Gaza’s interim humanitarian director, Jonathan Whittar, said Israel claims that aid workers are Hamas terrorists.
“These are paramedics I personally met before,” he said. “They were buried in their uniforms with gloves on. They were ready to save lives.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to the report.
