Report: Autopsies reveal some of medics killed by IDF in ambulance incident were shot in the head

Some of the Gaza medics killed by Israeli troops last month in an incident now being probed by the IDF were shot in the head and chest, autopsy reports obtained by The New York Times reveal.

The autopsies were performed earlier this month by the head of the forensic medicine unit in the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and they were reviewed by a forensic pathologist in Norway, NYT said.

The autopsies said that the slain 14 men were all wearing their Palestine Red Crescent or civil defense uniforms in part or in whole at the time of the incident.

Eleven of the men had gunshot wounds, including six who were shot in their chests or backs and four who were shot in the head, according to The Times, which said that most of the victims were shot multiple times.

One man had several shrapnel wounds and two others had injuries potentially related to an explosion, the autopsies said, adding that several bodies were missing limbs or body parts, with one man’s body severed from the pelvis down.

The bodies had decomposed after being buried by Israeli troops, so pathologists were unable to definitively determine whether they were shot at close range or whether their hands had been tied beforehand, as a Red Crescent spokesperson has asserted.

The IDF acknowledged earlier this month that it had initially given a false account of the incident in southern Gaza’s Rafah.

The army still asserted that at least six of those killed had been posthumously identified as Hamas operatives, denied that any of those killed had been executed, and said troops had not attempted to hide the incident but rather had informed the UN of the location of the grave they had buried the medics in.

After the incident came to light, the military had initially said the vehicles were without headlights or emergency lights, were uncoordinated, and arrived on the scene shortly after a group of terror operatives. As such, the IDF said soldiers deemed them “suspicious” and opened fire.

The New York Times subsequently published a video that appeared to show the emergency vehicles were clearly marked and had their emergency lights on when the IDF opened fire.

Palestinians have accused Israeli forces of attempting to cover up the incident by burying the bodies in a mass grave.