So final December, there was this transient video that was posted on social media. It confirmed members of a household, the Abu Salahs, lifeless on a avenue in Northern Gaza. I’m going to begin the story by exhibiting 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 usually 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 an instantaneous household, all seemingly killed directly. 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 introduced our findings to the Israeli navy, they didn’t deny duty. They mentioned their forces within the space, quote, “skilled many encounters with terrorists who combat and transfer in fight areas whereas sporting civilian garments.” However our evaluation of what occurred confirmed that the Abu Salahs posed no menace, 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 avenue 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 house in Northern Gaza on Oct. 8, simply as Israel launched its navy 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 in a position to get in contact with Hanady Abu Salah. She’s a sister and daughter of the individuals we see mendacity lifeless within the video. She was sheltering in a college simply 200 ft 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 mentioned that house ended up being destroyed throughout 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 dwelling 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 college they lived at is right here. It’s considered one of a number of faculties within the quick space that at the moment are performing as shelters. And simply up the highway is the Indonesian Hospital. It has a strategic view of your complete space. The make-up and format 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 mentioned 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 heart. They use the realm across the hospital as a base of terror in opposition to Israel right this moment.” The hospital was broken throughout I.D.F. operations at the 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 not perform. After these operations, a video captured a number of of the brothers contained in the hospital serving to to wash up the harm. Ahmed. Mahmoud. Yousif. And Srour. It will probably 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 mentioned the following morning appeared calmer, so her teenage nephew, Assad, stepped outdoors to see what had occurred in a single day. In response to Hanady, it was Israeli troopers, now in command of the hospital, who fired the shot from the advanced. 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 deal with Assad’s loss of life. Hanady despatched us {a photograph} of Assad’s physique wrapped in a white burial shroud with blood soaking by means of it. The file’s information confirms the photograph was taken simply three hours earlier than his six different members of the family have been killed. There’s one other element in regards to the {photograph} value mentioning. The orange stretcher seen beneath the shroud seems to match the kind of stretcher seen within the footage of his lifeless kinfolk. This additionally tracks with one other element: the shovels they have been carrying. As a result of based on Hanady, they have been on their method again from burying Assad after they have been shot. Hanady advised us her household first took Assad from the varsity to this hospital, then again to the varsity so different members of the family might say their goodbyes. And eventually, they carried him to a cemetery for burial. So the I.D.F. probably noticed the household coming and going with the stretcher a number of occasions to and from the varsity. Every time, they held their hearth till the household headed again to the varsity after burying Assad. Hanady had been ready hours for his or her return and was beginning to get apprehensive. Then, round noon, they heard a loud burst of gunfire. Hanady and one other individual on the scene all mentioned that gunfire was coming from the course 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 navy itself. The footage exhibits an operation to recuperate proof associated to the Oct. 7 assaults. Although 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 clean, 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. Meaning 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 course of the shadows inform us the video was filmed round 9 a.m., exhibiting 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 images 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 professional in crime scene reconstruction to study extra in regards to the taking pictures. Whereas we weren’t capable of finding witnesses to the taking pictures itself, each consultants mentioned 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, mentioned that as a result of we see three of the Abu Salah members of the family huddled collectively, it, quote, “suggests a possible cowering or defensive place.” He mentioned that this probably meant that they weren’t performing in any type of aggressive method. He additionally mentioned it’s probably that a number of the pictures that killed them have been fired as they have been already on the bottom, trying to protect one another from the gunfire. Each consultants additionally agreed that the entire household’s wounds have been to their higher our bodies, which means they have been killed by aimed pictures fairly 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 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 navy 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 navy hardly ever penalizes troopers for harming Palestinians. Regardless of our a number of requests for updates on the investigation, the I.D.F. mentioned they’d nothing so as to add. As for the white flag that Saadi Abu Salah carried, it’s a follow we’ve seen utilized by different civilians in Gaza to sign to I.D.F. troops that they’re not a menace. 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 determine themselves to Israeli forces. The I.D.F. hardly ever 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 mentioned Hamas militants have carried white flags as a solution to mix in with civilians and conceal their actions. The following morning, I.D.F. troops started conducting mass arrests of individuals left within the neighborhood. The navy mentioned these arrests have been obligatory to find out if Hamas fighters have been hiding amongst civilians. Hanady and her surviving kinfolk 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 realm and residents ventured outdoors. A neighborhood reporter filmed video of what at first seemed 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.
