The paramedics and rescue workers killed in an Israeli shooting in Gaza last month died mainly from gunshots to the head or chest, while others had shrapnel injuries or other wounds, according to autopsy reports obtained by The New York Times.
Israeli troops had fired on ambulances and a fire truck sent by the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the Civil Defense, according to witness accounts, video and audio of the March 23 attack.
Israel acknowledged carrying out the attack, which killed 15 men: 14 rescue workers and a United Nations employee who drove by after the others were shot. Israeli soldiers buried most of the bodies in a mass grave, crushed the ambulances, fire truck and a U.N. vehicle, and buried those as well.
The Israeli military has offered shifting explanations for why its troops fired on the emergency vehicles and said, without providing evidence, that some of the dead men had been Hamas operatives. Israel’s military said it was investigating the killing.
The episode drew international condemnation, and experts described it as a war crime.
The autopsies were carried out between April 1 and April 5, according to the reports, after a team of aid workers recovered the men’s bodies from southern Gaza. The Times reviewed autopsy results for all the men except the U.N. employee. They were performed by Dr. Ahmad Dhair, the head of the Gazan health ministry’s forensic medicine unit.
Dr. Arne Stray-Pedersen, a forensic pathologist at Oslo University Hospital in Norway, who had been in Gaza earlier in March to train doctors in forensic medicine, reviewed photos of the autopsies and consulted with Dr. Dhair to write a summary report.
The 14 men were wearing either their Red Crescent or Civil Defense uniforms, in part or in whole, at the time of death, the autopsy reports said. Video of part of the attack shows that when Israeli troops began shooting at them, a few of the paramedics had exited their vehicles and were clearly visible in their uniforms, with reflective bands across the back, arms and legs that shone brightly in the lights of the ambulances.
The autopsy reports said 11 of the men had gunshot wounds, including at least six who were shot in their chests or backs and four who were shot in the head. Most had been shot multiple times.
One man had several shrapnel wounds in his chest and abdomen; two others had injuries that the autopsy reports said were “consistent” with shrapnel, possibly related to an explosion. While sustained gunfire can be heard on the video and in audio recordings of part of the attack, it is unclear whether there was an additional blast that might have caused such injuries.
Several of the bodies were missing limbs or other body parts, the reports said. One man’s body was severed from the pelvis down, his autopsy report said.
The bodies were all partly or severely decomposed, according to the autopsy reports and photos. That made it challenging to draw additional conclusions, including whether the men had been shot at close range or from farther away, Dr. Stray-Pedersen said in an interview.
After examining the first few bodies in late March, Dr. Dhair had told The Times and other news outlets that one victim had marks and bruises on his wrists suggesting that his hands had been tied. Dr. Dhair cautioned that further investigation was needed to determine whether that was the case.
The autopsy reports do not mention whether any of the men had been tied up.
A Red Crescent spokeswoman, Nebal Farsakh, had also said that one paramedic was found with his hands and feet tied. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Dr. Stray-Pedersen began consulting on the autopsies after the Gazan health ministry sought help from NORWAC, a Norwegian aid group, a draft of the summary report says. He said in an interview that he and Dr. Dhair will continue to analyze the results before issuing a final report.
“I am specifically looking at any possible patterns, if all of them were killed in the same manner or if some have any additional wounds,” Dr. Stray-Pedersen said.
In its initial statement after the attack, the Israeli military said that the men had been “advancing suspiciously” without their lights. It backtracked on that assertion after the release of the video, which showed the clearly marked vehicles flashing their lights and coming to a halt before the attack.
The Israeli military’s first account also said that nine of those killed had been operatives for Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group. It later revised that count, saying that six of them were Hamas operatives.
It has said it will not comment further until its investigation is complete.
Abubakr Abdelbagi and Naziha Baassiri contributed reporting.
Vivian Yee is a Times reporter covering North Africa and the broader Middle East. She is based in Cairo.
Christoph Koettl is a Times reporter on the Visual Investigations team.
The post Autopsies of Gaza Medics Killed by Israeli Troops Show Some Were Shot in the Head appeared first on New York Times.
