The New York Times obtained a video recording on a cell phone of one of the killed paramedics, who was found with 14 other aid workers in a mass grave in Rafah in late March, that shows that the ambulances and fire truck the workers were traveling in were clearly marked and had their emergency lights on when Israeli troops fired at them, the NYT reported Friday evening.
NEW EVIDENCE: Medics Massacre @nytimes obtained footage of Israel attacking the 15 massacred medics in Gaza. A paramedic says his last prayer as the IDF immediately starts shooting & killing them.The ambulances had lights on & were clearly marked, refuting Israel's lies. pic.twitter.com/7DqVZVUkGT
— Bashar Zapen (@BasharZapen) April 5, 2025
Earlier in the week, an Israeli military spokesperson, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, reportedly told the NYT that the IDF did not “randomly attack” an ambulance, but that several vehicles “were identified advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals toward Israeli troops, prompting them to shoot.
He also said that the majority of those killed were terrorists, according to the NYT.
The IDF said it is conducting an investigation into this incident on Thursday, Reuters reported. The military said its Southern Command had transferred the investigation to a general staff mechanism outside the chain of command to establish what had happened and "hold accountable people if we need to."
The video had been presented to the UN Security Council by the Palestine Red Crescent Society, the organization said at a news conference on Friday at the UN, moderated by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The video was provided to the NYT by an anonymous senior diplomat at the UN.
The video appeared to be filmed from a moving vehicle and clearly shows a pulled-over convoy of ambulances and a fire truck, with medical personnel in reflective gear, headlights on and flashing, as well as the Red Crescent insignia on the trucks, according to a clip published by the NYT. After the vehicle from which the video was taken pulled over, shooting began. The NYT said that gunshots are heard on the full video for over five minutes.
The NYT said it verified the location and timing of the video. The convoy was driving south on a road to the north of Rafah in the early hours of the morning. The convoy had stopped when they reportedly encountered a vehicle that had veered onto the side of the road. One ambulance had been called earlier to aid wounded civilians and was attacked. The additional vehicles met the original one on the side of the road.
The paramedic filming the video from the moving vehicle, which pulled over after the convoy, can be heard reciting the "shahada," or a Muslim declaration of faith, as the video begins to go dark and the shooting begins. He said, "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God" before the clip ended. The NYT says that he continued to say, "Forgive me, mother. This is the path I chose — to help people. Allahu akbar,” God is great, he concluded.
Forensics from the incident
A spokesperson from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Nebal Farsakh, said that the paramedic who filmed the video was later discovered with a bullet in his head in the mass grave, in an interview from Ramallah. He remained anonymous because he has relatives in Gaa who are concerned about Israeli retaliation, the UN diplomat who provided the video to the NYT said.
The aid workers first went missing on March 23. The UN and the Palestine Red Crescent said that the aid workers were not carrying weapons during the incident, according to the NYT.
The president of the Palestine Red Crescent, Dr. Younis Al-Khatim, and his deputy, Marwan Jilani, said that the aid workers were shot at from a short range and that Israeli officials did not provide any information on the whereabouts of the missing medics for eight days, according to the NYT.
The bodies were found in a mass grave on Sunday, along with their crushed vehicles and a vehicle marked with the UN emblem. One member of the aid organization is still missing, and Israeli officials have not declared his fate, Dr. Khatib told the NYT.
The forensic doctor who examined several of the bodies in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza, Dr. Ahmad Dhair, said that four out of five of the bodies had wounds that showed they were killed by multiple gunshots, including in the head, torso, chest, and joints.
The IDF responded to the publication of the video and the following reports, saying, " The shooting incident targeting the ambulance convoy in Tel Sultan on March 23 is undergoing deep review and investigative processes."
"All claims, including the footage that was published, will be thoroughly examined to understand how the event was handled."
The IDF re-entered Rafah in early March at the conclusion of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which began in January.