In the video, the Red Crescent and Civil Defence teams are seen driving slowly with their emergency vehicles’ lights flashing, displaying logos, as they approached to assist an ambulance that had been targeted earlier.
The teams do not appear to be acting unusually or in a threatening manner as three medics emerge and head toward the stricken ambulance.
A shot rings out and one of the men appears to fall. Gunfire erupts.
The man holding the phone appears to scramble out of the car and onto the ground, but the screen goes black, though the audio continues.
The sound of gunshots continues for almost five and a half minutes, with prolonged intense gunfire followed by pauses interrupted by occasional individual shots, cries, and screams.
Throughout the video, the person recording repeatedly says, “There is no God but God and Muhammad is God’s prophet,” which is a declaration of faith Muslims make when they believe they may be facing death. Towards the end of the six-minute and 40-second video, Hebrew voices can be heard shouting. “The Jews are coming,” the person stated, referring to Israeli soldiers, before the video abruptly ends.
The Israeli military official asserted there was “no mistreatment,” and said he didn’t know why the vehicles had been buried. He had no information about the medic who remained missing.
Israel claims they found militants afterward
The Israeli military says that after the shooting, troops determined they had killed a Hamas figure named Mohammed Amin Shobaki and eight other militants. However, none of the 15 slain medics has that name, and no other bodies are known to have been found at the site.
The military has not said what happened to Shobaki’s body or released the names of the other alleged militants. The Israeli military official said Israel was “working to bring evidence” that Hamas operatives were killed.
Jonathan Whittall, interim head in Gaza of the UN humanitarian office OCHA, dismissed allegations that the slain medics were Hamas militants, saying staff had worked with the same medics previously in evacuating patients from hospitals and other tasks.
“These are paramedic crews that I personally have met before,” he said. “They were buried in their uniforms with their gloves on. They were ready to save lives.”
