Chilling video shows Israeli soldiers shooting dead 15 emergency workers in Gaza | BBC News

Newly-released mobile phone footage shows the moment Israeli soldiers opened fired on a convoy of ambulances in Gaza, killing 15 rescue workers. The video contradicts the Israel Defence Forces account of the incident, in which they claimed the vehicles had been travelling without headlights or emergency flashing lights and appeared to be a threat.

The video, released by the Palestine Red Crescent Society shows the clearly-marked ambulances with headlights and emergency flashing lights switched on. The PRCS said the video was obtained from the phone of a paramedic who was killed in the Israeli attack.

In response to the new video, the IDF told the BBC: "All claims, including the documentation circulating about the incident, will be thoroughly and deeply examined to understand the sequence of events and the handling of the situation".

The video shows the marked vehicles drawing to a halt on the edge of the road, lights still flashing, and at least two emergency workers stepping out wearing reflective clothing. Shooting can then be heard lasting for several minutes as the man filming says prayers. He is understood to be one of the dead paramedics.

The footage was found on his phone after his body was recovered from a shallow grave one week after the incident. The bodies of the eight paramedics, six Gaza Civil Defence workers and one United Nations employee were found buried in sand, along with their wrecked vehicles. It took international organisations days to negotiate safe access to the site.

Israel claimed a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants had been killed in the shooting, but has not provided any evidence for that claim or explained the alleged threat to its troops.

Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Dan Johnson.

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