News / Palestine

Gaza civil defense rejects Israeli probe, calls medic killings 'summary executions'

Monday, 21 April 2025 5:57 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 21 April 2025 5:57 PM ]

A boy walks past an animal-drawn cart to cross a street near a tent encampment in Gaza City on April 21, 2025. (AFP)

Gaza’s Civil Defense agency has rejected the findings of a probe by the Israeli military into the March killing of 15 paramedics, saying evidence points to “summary executions” by Israeli forces, who subsequently buried the bodies in a mass grave.

Mohammed al-Mughair, a Gaza civil defense official, said video footage filmed by one of the paramedics disproves the Israeli military’s recent findings and clearly shows that the rescue workers were executed.

“The video filmed by one of the paramedics proves that the Israeli occupation’s narrative is false and demonstrates that it carried out summary executions,” al-Mughair was quoted as saying.

The Palestinian official further accused Israel of attempting to “circumvent” its obligations under international law.

Earlier, the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) also dismissed the Israeli probe as invalid and unacceptable, calling it misleading and full of lies.

"It is invalid and unacceptable, as it justifies the killing and shifts responsibility to a personal error in the field command when the truth is quite different," Nebal Farsakh, spokesperson for the PRCS said.

The comments came a day after the Israeli military claimed that there were “several professional failures” in the killing of the Gaza paramedics and rescue workers last month.

The Israeli rights organization Breaking the Silence also rejected the findings of the Israeli probe. They called for an independent and impartial investigation by a UN body.

Several Western media organizations, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Sky News, have also published investigations that countered Israeli claims.

On March 23, 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers were shot dead by Israeli forces near Rafah in southern Gaza.

Israeli military claims Gaza medics were killed mistakenly

The Israeli military has claimed that there were “several professional failures” in the killing of over a dozen Gaza paramedics and rescue workers last month.

UN officials and the Red Crescent found their bodies a week later in a shallow grave dug by Israeli forces.

Following the shooting, the Red Crescent released a video recovered from the phone of one of the victims. The footage contradicts the version of events initially put forward by the Israeli military.

In particular, the video shows clearly that the ambulances were travelling with sirens, flashing lights, and headlights on. The military had claimed the ambulances were travelling "suspiciously" and without lights.

The massacre drew international condemnation, including concern about possible war crimes from UN human rights commissioner Volker Turk.

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