51 h. ago New details on killing of paramedics in Gaza appear to contradict IDF’s account

Haaretz report comes as supreme court gives Israeli PM more time to respond to affidavit from fired Shin Bet chief New developments in the killing of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip last month have come to light, with evidence reportedly contradicting the Israel Defense Forces’ claim that soldiers did not fire indiscriminately at the medical workers.The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Wednesday that its analysis of the IDF’s own materials collected as part of an internal investigation into the incident contradicted the army’s claim that soldiers did not shoot indiscriminately at Palestinian ambulances and a fire engine in the early hours of 23 March. Continue reading...

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5 d. ago Humanitarian agencies reject IDF claim Gaza medic killings caused by ‘professional failures’

UN, Palestinian Red Crescent and civil defence service condemn lack of accountability after Israeli investigationThe UN’s humanitarian agency, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Gaza’s civil defence service have rejected the findings of an Israeli military investigation that concluded the killings of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers in Rafah last month were caused by “professional failures”.Eight PRCS paramedics, six members of the civil defence rescue agency and one employee of Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, were carrying out two rescue missions when they were shot and killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza in the early hours of 23 March. Continue reading...

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6 d. ago Israel sacks deputy commander after it admits 'professional failures' over the killings of 15 Gaza aid workers by IDF troops

An Israeli investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Gaza by Israeli forces said Sunday it found a chain of 'professional failures'

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2 w. ago IDF unit involved in Gaza paramedics’ killing was under command of brigade led by notorious Israeli general

Golani troops were under command of reservist Armoured 14th Brigade, part of division led by Brig Gen Yehuda VachThe Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit involved in the killings of 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers in the Gaza Strip last month was under the command of a brigade led by a notorious Israeli general previously accused by some of his own troops of having “contempt for human life”.The IDF has confirmed that troops from Golani, one of the army’s five infantry brigades, opened fire on two convoys of ambulances in Rafah on 23 March and dug a mass grave to cover the bodies of those killed until the corpses could be retrieved by a UN team six days later. It has disputed allegations from two witnesses who exhumed the bodies and newly released postmortem results that found several of those killed had close-range gunshot wounds to the head and chest and were discovered with their hands or legs tied. Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Our aid workers were brutally killed and thrown into a mass grave in Gaza. This must never happen again | Jagan Chapagain

A record number of humanitarian workers were killed last year. My staff’s red uniforms should have protected them. Instead they became their death shroudsJagan Chapagain is secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies‘What was their crime?’ Families tell of shock over IDF killing of paramedicsWhich was most horrific? The agonising week-long wait – silence after our colleagues went missing, as we suspected the worst but hoped for something different? Or the confirmation, seven days later, that bodies had been found? Or, since, the ghastly details of how they were found, and killed?Their ambulances were crushed and partly buried. Nearby were their bodies – also buried, en masse, in the sand. Our dead colleagues were still wearing their Red Crescent vests. In life, those uniforms signalled their status as humanitarian workers; they should have protected them. Instead, in death, those red vests became their shrouds.Jagan Chapagain is secretar...

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3 w. ago ‘What was their crime?’ Families tell of shock over IDF killing of Gaza paramedics

Relatives who waited agonising week before bodies were found speak of passion that drove Red Crescent workers• Our aid workers were brutally killed and thrown into a mass grave in Gaza. This must never happen againGaza is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a civilian now that Israeli forces have resumed their military campaign with even more ferocity, but for the first responders who rush towards the wreckage of bombed buildings, the risks are multiplied many times over.The 15 paramedics and rescue workers whose bodies were found last weekend in a bulldozed pit outside Rafah knew they were putting their lives in peril to try to save others, but they could not have been prepared for what awaited them in the early hours of 23 March. Continue reading...

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