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The Israeli military, confronted with video evidence contradicting its initial account, now says it was “mistaken.”
April 6, 2025, 1:29 p.m. ET
The Israeli military has acknowledged flaws in its initial accounts of its troops’ involvement in the killing last month of 15 people in southern Gaza who the United Nations said were all paramedics and rescue workers.
The admission came on Saturday, the day after a video obtained by The New York Times appeared to contradict a key part of the military’s earlier version of events. While the military had said it fired on the vehicles after they “advanced suspiciously,” the video showed clearly marked ambulances and a fire truck.
The episode has drawn international scrutiny and condemnation. After the blatant inconsistencies in the Israeli account were revealed, the military seemed to move more quickly than usual to address the issue. Internal military inquiries into questionable deadly episodes can drag on for months, even years.
Here’s what we know so far:
The Israeli military’s version(s)
In its initial statements after the bodies were discovered, the military insisted its troops had opened fire as a convoy approached them in the dark “without headlights or emergency signals.”
But the video — discovered on the cellphone of a paramedic who was found in a mass grave — shows that the ambulances and fire truck had emergency lights on as Israeli forces unleashed their barrage.
The military now says the initial account from forces on the ground was “mistaken.”
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