๐ด ๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ท๐น ๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐ โ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐-๐ข๐โ
by Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar News, April 20, 2025
An inquiry by the Israeli Defense Forces into its soldiers murdering 15 Palestinian medics in Rafah last month dismissed its forcesโ opening fire on the first responders.
The report by the IDF (Israeli Army) found that โprofessional failuresโ and โoperational misunderstandingsโ were the cause of Israeli soldiers killing 15 Palestinian medics. It concluded the troops opened fire on the ambulances โafter perceiving an immediate and tangible threat.โ
On March 23, IDF soldiers in Rafah opened fire on a convoy of ambulances. Initially, Tel Aviv claimed that the vehicles were driving erratically and without their lights on. However, a video from one of the medicsโ phones showed that the ambulances were driving with caution and were using their sirens.
After the massacre of the medics, most of whom worked for the Red Crescent, the IDF buried the victims and their vehicles in a mass grave. Once the crime scene was exhumed, autopsies showed most of the first responders were killed by bullets to the head or chest.
The report claimed the mass grave was not an effort at an IDF cover-up. โThere was no attempt to conceal the event, which was discussed with international organizations and the UN, including coordination for the removal of bodies,โ the IDF asserted.
Breaking the Silence, an organization of IDF veterans, called the report a โcover-up.โ โThe investigation is riddled with contradictions, vague phrasing, and selective details. The only โseriousโ disciplinary action taken: the dismissal of the deputy commander of Golaniโs elite unit.โ The statement continued. โHis reported โfailureโ was submitting an incomplete account of the incident. In other words, he lied.โ
The organization added, โWe all remember when the IDF claimed that the ambulancesโ emergency lights werenโt on โ and then we saw the footage proving otherwise. Not every lie has a video to expose it, but this report doesnโt even attempt to engage with the truth.โ
Over the past 18 months, the IDF has committed countless atrocities in Gaza. Most of the time, the mass killings of Palestinians by Israelis go unreported in Western media.
However, on a few occasions, IDF operations have come under scrutiny in the US. Tel Aviv has skirted any responsibility for the war crimes by investigating its forces and concluding there were errors made but no intentional or systemic wrongdoing.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com and news editor of the Libertarian Institute. He hosts The Kyle Anzalone Show and is co-host of Conflicts of Interest with Connor Freeman.
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