Israeli military on Saturday admitted to shooting at ambulances in Gaza Strip citing them as “suspicious vehicles.” Hamas condemned the attack as a “war crime” that resulted in at least one fatality.
“A few minutes afterward, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward the troops… The troops responded by firing toward the suspicious vehicles, eliminating a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists,” the Israeli military said.
The military said that an initial inquiry revealed some of the suspected vehicles were ambulances and fire trucks. It also condemned the “repeated use” of ambulances by “terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip for terrorist purposes.”
A day after the incident, Gaza’s civil defense agency reported losing contact with a team of six rescuers from Tal al-Sultan who had been dispatched to respond to casualties. By Friday, the agency confirmed the discovery of the team leader’s body, along with their destroyed ambulance and firefighting vehicle. It also noted that a Palestine Red Crescent Society vehicle had been reduced to scrap metal.
Additionally, IDF targeted an unmanned storage facility utilized by Hezbollah’s air unit.
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization centered the terrorist infrastructure in the heart of the civilian population. This is another example of Hezbollah’s cynical use of Lebanese citizens as human shields,” IDF spokesperson said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted a storage facility in Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood, Lebanon’s capital, after issuing an evacuation warning to residents before the strike.