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 exhibiting you that video. But 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 dying and destruction that we see out of Gaza, what we see on the road is definitely fairly uncommon. Normally, 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. But right here they had been, members of a right away household, all seemingly killed directly. And as we’ll present, it was Israeli troops who shot them. But what had been the circumstances, and why was the household all collectively? Why had been they carrying a stretcher and two shovels? And what about that white flag? When we offered our findings to the Israeli army, they didn’t deny duty. They mentioned their forces in the world, quote, “experienced many encounters with terrorists who fight and move in combat areas while wearing civilian clothes.” But our evaluation of what occurred confirmed that the Abu Salahs posed no risk, but had been nonetheless focused with clear intention at shut vary. Here’s the story of who they had 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 robust to get in contact with individuals in Northern Gaza due to the struggle. However, over the course of a number of months, we had been in a position to get in contact with Hanady Abu Salah. She’s a sister and daughter of the individuals we see mendacity useless in the video. She was sheltering in a college simply 200 ft away from her household once they had been killed and heard the gunfire. Across many conversations together with her, Hanady was keen to speak about her household. Hanady mentioned 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 had been pressured to flee. They ended up residing with different displaced households at a women highschool turned shelter. Still, 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 one among a number of colleges in the fast space that at the moment are appearing as shelters. And simply up the street is the Indonesian Hospital. It has a strategic view of the complete space. The make-up and format of the neighborhood is vital to know as a result of on the time of the killings, it was filled with civilians coming and going. But the world had additionally been the positioning of a number of clashes between Israeli troops and militants. The I.D.F. has mentioned its objective there was to root out Hamas fighters working in and across the Indonesian Hospital, and has usually accused Hamas of utilizing refugee camps as cowl for its actions. “The Indonesian Hospital is being used by Hamas to hide the underground command and control center. They use the area around the hospital as a base of terror against Israel today.” The hospital was broken throughout I.D.F. operations at the very least twice in the weeks earlier than the Abu Salahs had been killed. [explosion] In one case, after the I.D.F. claimed militants fired from contained in the constructing. Because of the destruction, the hospital may now not perform. After these operations, a video captured a number of of the brothers contained in the hospital serving to to scrub up the harm. Ahmed. Mahmoud. Yousif. And Srour. It would probably be the identical constructing they had been shot from. The evening earlier than the killings, witnesses informed us they heard the sound of bulldozers on the hospital, signaling that the I.D.F. was again. Satellite imagery reveals a number of constructions had been destroyed in a single day. What occurred the subsequent morning set in movement a chain of occasions which might result in the capturing of the Abu Salahs a number of hours later. Hanady mentioned the subsequent morning appeared calmer, so her teenage nephew, Assad, stepped outdoors to see what had occurred in a single day. According to Hanady, it was Israeli troopers, now in management 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 had been in the world disguising themselves as civilians, didn’t particularly handle Assad’s dying. Hanady despatched us a {photograph} of Assad’s physique wrapped in a white burial shroud with blood soaking via it. The file’s knowledge confirms the picture was taken simply three hours earlier than his six different relations had been killed. There’s one other element in regards to the {photograph} price mentioning. The orange stretcher seen beneath the shroud seems to match the kind of stretcher seen in the footage of his useless family. This additionally tracks with one other element: the shovels they had been carrying. Because in accordance with Hanady, they had been on their method again from burying Assad once they had been shot. Hanady informed us her household first took Assad from the varsity to this hospital, then again to the varsity so different relations may say their goodbyes. And lastly, 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 instances to and from the varsity. Each time, they held their fireplace 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 fearful. Then, round noon, they heard a loud burst of gunfire. Hanady and one other particular person on the scene all mentioned that gunfire was coming from the course of the Indonesian Hospital. We know the I.D.F. managed the hospital, not solely from witnesses, however from footage launched by the Israeli army itself. The footage reveals an operation to get better proof associated to the Oct. 7 assaults. Even 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 reveals easy, unbroken pavement in the identical location. So the video needed to have been filmed after the 4th. Let’s take a take a look at this construction in the video. A satellite tv for pc picture from Dec. 7 reveals the identical constructing right here utterly destroyed. That means the video needed to have been filmed earlier than the satellite tv for pc picture was taken. The video additionally reveals 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 had been on the hospital simply a few hours earlier than the Abu Salahs had been killed. Beyond 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. Other areas in vary of the shootings had been both occupied by displaced Palestinians or lack a direct line of sight to the household. So now let’s study the footage of the our bodies extra intently. We spoke to a forensic pathologist and an skilled in crime scene reconstruction to be taught extra in regards to the capturing. While we weren’t capable of finding witnesses to the capturing itself, each specialists mentioned the state of the household’s our bodies signifies the footage was filmed shortly after they had been killed. Jonathyn Priest, the previous head of the Denver Police Homicide Unit, mentioned that as a result of we see three of the Abu Salah relations huddled collectively, it, quote, “suggests a potential cowering or defensive position.” He mentioned that this probably meant that they weren’t appearing in any kind of aggressive method. He additionally mentioned it’s probably that among the pictures that killed them had been fired as they had been already on the bottom, trying to defend one another from the gunfire. Both specialists additionally agreed that all the household’s wounds had been to their higher our bodies, which suggests they had 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. So that additionally guidelines out the likelihood that they had 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. But there’s no proof these opinions performed any position in the household’s killings. The I.D.F. informed us that the killing of the Abu Salahs has been referred to army investigators who study potential instances of misconduct by Israeli forces. But these findings are seldom made public, and human rights teams say that the Israeli army not often penalizes troopers for harming Palestinians. Despite our a number of requests for updates on the investigation, the I.D.F. mentioned that they had 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 situations, 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. not often feedback on civilians carrying white flags who had been killed, however admitted their mistake after the capturing of the hostages. The I.D.F. has additionally mentioned 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 in the neighborhood. The army mentioned these arrests had been essential to find out if Hamas fighters had been hiding amongst civilians. Hanady and her surviving family left that day for Central Gaza, however the our bodies of her household remained on the road. Several weeks later, Israeli forces withdrew from the world and residents ventured outdoors. An area reporter filmed video of what at first gave the impression to be piles of bulldozed rubble. But quickly, one may see limbs, a head and a torso, with clothes and wounds matching the Abu Salahs. These had been the household’s stays, bulldozed into a pile of rubbish not removed from the place they had been shot.
