How phone footage exposed a massacre of Gaza paramedics

The episode centers around the aftermath of a deadly incident in Gaza on March 23, where a convoy of ambulances, sent to rescue missing medics, was attacked, resulting in the deaths of 15 individuals, including paramedics and civil defense responders. Mobile phone footage recorded by paramedic Rifat Radwan captured the moments leading up to the shooting, contradicting the Israeli Defense Forces' (IDF) claims that the victims were suspicious vehicles without lights. The video showed these vehicles were indeed marked as emergency vehicles.

In the days following the incident, the Red Crescent, UN, and Civil Defense Agency realized their teams were missing and encountered significant difficulty accessing the site due to ongoing conflict. When they finally reached the area, they discovered a mass grave containing all 15 bodies, many showing evidence of execution-style killings, which raised serious concerns regarding the conduct of the IDF.

Despite the IDF initially claiming the convoy was misidentified as Hamas militants and defending their actions, public release of the video prompted the military to backtrack on their narrative. They stated they would open a second investigation but continued to assert some of the deceased were Hamas operatives without providing evidence. This incident sparked outrage from humanitarian organizations, highlighting a broader pattern of violence against medical and rescue workers in Gaza, raising ethical and legal questions surrounding the treatment of such individuals during conflicts.