So final December, there was this temporary video that was posted on social media. It confirmed members of a household, the Abu Salahs, useless on a road in Northern Gaza. I’m going to begin the story by displaying you that video. However simply as a warning, it’s extraordinarily graphic. Two brothers lay huddled with their mom, Inshirah. Two different brothers lay on the road, one subsequent to a stretcher. And subsequent to the hand of their father, Saadi, lay a white flag. What struck us about this video is that for all of the scenes of loss of life and destruction that we see out of Gaza, what we see on the road is definitely fairly uncommon. Usually, after we see proof of civilian casualties in Gaza, these individuals have typically been killed by bombs or rockets launched from distant. If and when individuals have been killed by gunfire, the aftermath is seldom captured. However right here they have been, members of a direct household, all seemingly killed without delay. And as we’ll present, it was Israeli troops who shot them. However what have been the circumstances, and why was the household all collectively? Why have been they carrying a stretcher and two shovels? And what about that white flag? After we offered our findings to the Israeli army, they didn’t deny duty. They stated their forces within the space, quote, “skilled many encounters with terrorists who battle and transfer in fight areas whereas sporting civilian garments.” However our evaluation of what occurred confirmed that the Abu Salahs posed no risk, but have been nonetheless focused with clear intention at shut vary. Right here’s the story of who they have been, how they ended up on that road at noon on Dec. 6 and the way we decided it was Israeli troops who killed them. So the Abu Salah household was displaced from their dwelling in Northern Gaza on Oct. 8, simply as Israel launched its army response to the Oct. 7 assaults. It’s been fairly powerful to get in contact with individuals in Northern Gaza due to the struggle. Nevertheless, over the course of a number of months, we have been capable of get in contact with Hanady Abu Salah. She’s a sister and daughter of the individuals we see mendacity useless within the video. She was sheltering in a faculty simply 200 toes away from her household after they have been killed and heard the gunfire. Throughout many conversations together with her, Hanady was keen to speak about her household. Hanady stated that dwelling ended up being destroyed in the course of the preventing, and that their father had dreamed of rebuilding it after the struggle. Like many Palestinians, they have been pressured to flee. They ended up residing with different displaced households at a women highschool turned shelter. Nonetheless, the violence adopted them. This video was filmed by Hanady’s brother Ahmed. Ahmed was one of many brothers killed simply weeks later. The varsity they lived at is right here. It’s one in all a number of faculties within the instant space that at the moment are appearing as shelters. And simply up the street is the Indonesian Hospital. It has a strategic view of all the space. The make-up and structure of the neighborhood is essential to know as a result of on the time of the killings, it was stuffed with civilians coming and going. However the space had additionally been the location of a number of clashes between Israeli troops and militants. The I.D.F. has stated its function there was to root out Hamas fighters working in and across the Indonesian Hospital, and has typically accused Hamas of utilizing refugee camps as cowl for its actions. “The Indonesian Hospital is being utilized by Hamas to cover the underground command and management middle. They use the world across the hospital as a base of terror towards Israel right now.” The hospital was broken throughout I.D.F. operations at the very least twice within the weeks earlier than the Abu Salahs have been killed. [explosion] In a single case, after the I.D.F. claimed militants fired from contained in the constructing. Due to the destruction, the hospital might now not operate. After these operations, a video captured a number of of the brothers contained in the hospital serving to to scrub up the injury. Ahmed. Mahmoud. Yousif. And Srour. It could doubtless be the identical constructing they have been shot from. The evening earlier than the killings, witnesses advised us they heard the sound of bulldozers on the hospital, signaling that the I.D.F. was again. Satellite tv for pc imagery exhibits a number of constructions have been destroyed in a single day. What occurred the following morning set in movement a sequence of occasions which might result in the taking pictures of the Abu Salahs a number of hours later. Hanady stated the following morning appeared calmer, so her teenage nephew, Assad, stepped exterior to see what had occurred in a single day. In accordance with Hanady, it was Israeli troopers, now accountable for the hospital, who fired the shot from the complicated. We did put this accusation to the I.D.F., however the response that I famous earlier, that militants have been within the space disguising themselves as civilians, didn’t particularly tackle Assad’s loss of life. Hanady despatched us {a photograph} of Assad’s physique wrapped in a white burial shroud with blood soaking via it. The file’s information confirms the picture was taken simply three hours earlier than his six different relations have been killed. There’s one other element concerning the {photograph} value mentioning. The orange stretcher seen beneath the shroud seems to match the kind of stretcher seen within the footage of his useless relations. This additionally tracks with one other element: the shovels they have been carrying. As a result of in keeping with Hanady, they have been on their manner again from burying Assad after they have been shot. Hanady advised us her household first took Assad from the college to this hospital, then again to the college so different relations might say their goodbyes. And eventually, they carried him to a cemetery for burial. So the I.D.F. doubtless noticed the household coming and going with the stretcher a number of occasions to and from the college. Every time, they held their hearth till the household headed again to the college after burying Assad. Hanady had been ready hours for his or her return and was beginning to get frightened. Then, round noon, they heard a loud burst of gunfire. Hanady and one other individual on the scene all stated that gunfire was coming from the route of the Indonesian Hospital. We all know the I.D.F. managed the hospital, not solely from witnesses, however from footage launched by the Israeli army itself. The footage exhibits an operation to recuperate proof associated to the Oct. 7 assaults. Regardless that its undated, there are clues that place it on the day of the killings. First, look right here. The pavement has been torn up. A satellite tv for pc picture taken simply two days earlier than on Dec. 4 exhibits easy, unbroken pavement in the identical location. So the video needed to have been filmed after the 4th. Let’s check out this construction within the video. A satellite tv for pc picture from Dec. 7 exhibits the identical constructing right here utterly destroyed. Which means the video needed to have been filmed earlier than the satellite tv for pc picture was taken. The video additionally exhibits clear skies. Since Dec. 5 was overcast, it will need to have been filmed on the sixth. Not solely that, however the size and route of the shadows inform us the video was filmed round 9 a.m., displaying the troopers have been on the hospital only a few hours earlier than the Abu Salahs have been killed. Past the hospital, we discovered the I.D.F. had taken up different positions inside visibility and vary of the shootings, together with at these towers, the place troopers posted photographs of themselves on social media taken across the time the household was killed. Different areas in vary of the shootings have been both occupied by displaced Palestinians or lack a direct line of sight to the household. So now let’s look at the footage of the our bodies extra carefully. We spoke to a forensic pathologist and an knowledgeable in crime scene reconstruction to be taught extra concerning the taking pictures. Whereas we weren’t capable of finding witnesses to the taking pictures itself, each specialists stated the state of the household’s our bodies signifies the footage was filmed shortly after they have been killed. Jonathyn Priest, the previous head of the Denver Police Murder Unit, stated that as a result of we see three of the Abu Salah relations huddled collectively, it, quote, “suggests a possible cowering or defensive place.” He stated that this doubtless meant that they weren’t appearing in any type of aggressive manner. He additionally stated it’s doubtless that among the photographs that killed them have been fired as they have been already on the bottom, trying to defend one another from the gunfire. Each specialists additionally agreed that all the household’s wounds have been to their higher our bodies, which means they have been killed by aimed photographs relatively than random gunfire. Neither the I.D.F. nor witnesses we spoke to talked about any preventing between Israeli troops and militants on the road when the household was killed. In order that additionally guidelines out the likelihood that they have been killed in a crossfire. In some social media posts, at the very least one member of the family appeared to sympathize with Hamas earlier than the Oct. 7 assaults, and Hanady did so too with the assaults themselves. However there’s no proof these opinions performed any function within the household’s killings. The I.D.F. advised us that the killing of the Abu Salahs has been referred to army investigators who look at potential instances of misconduct by Israeli forces. However these findings are seldom made public, and human rights teams say that the Israeli army not often penalizes troopers for harming Palestinians. Regardless of our a number of requests for updates on the investigation, the I.D.F. stated they’d nothing so as to add. As for the white flag that Saadi Abu Salah carried, it’s a apply we’ve seen utilized by different civilians in Gaza to sign to I.D.F. troops that they’re not a risk. In a number of cases, civilians carrying such flags — [gunshot] have nonetheless been shot at, together with three Israeli hostages utilizing makeshift white flags to establish themselves to Israeli forces. The I.D.F. not often feedback on civilians carrying white flags who have been killed, however admitted their mistake after the taking pictures of the hostages. The I.D.F. has additionally stated Hamas militants have carried white flags as a technique to mix in with civilians and conceal their actions. The subsequent morning, I.D.F. troops started conducting mass arrests of individuals left within the neighborhood. The army stated these arrests have been obligatory to find out if Hamas fighters have been hiding amongst civilians. Hanady and her surviving relations left that day for Central Gaza, however the our bodies of her household remained on the road. A number of weeks later, Israeli forces withdrew from the world and residents ventured exterior. An area reporter filmed video of what at first gave the impression to be piles of bulldozed rubble. However quickly, one might see limbs, a head and a torso, with clothes and wounds matching the Abu Salahs. These have been the household’s stays, bulldozed right into a pile of rubbish not removed from the place they have been shot.
