Israeli military says 15 aid workers in Gaza killed due to 'sense of threat'
The Israeli military said an initial investigation of the killing of 15 emergency workers in south Gaza showed the incident occurred “due to a sense of threat.”
The Israeli military said Monday that an initial investigation into the killing of 15 emergency workers in south Gaza last month showed that the incident occurred “due to a sense of threat.”
It said it had identified six Hamas militants as being in the vicinity during the incident in the city of Rafah.
In a statement, the military said it was conducting a more in depth investigation but the preliminary “inquiry indicated that the troops opened fire due to a perceived threat following a previous encounter in the area”, and that six of the individuals killed “were identified as Hamas” militants.
The emergency workers were shot dead on March 23 and buried in shallow graves. The Israeli military initially said it opened fire after unmarked vehicles approached in the dark, but changed its account after video emerged showing clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks with their lights on coming under fire.
Funerals were held at Nasser Hospital in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis for eight of the health workers from the Palestinian Red Crescent killed in an Israeli attack last month.Hani Alshaer / Anadolu via Getty Images deeper investigation would be conducted in the coming days and its findings would be presented to the public, the Israeli military said.
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