**New Evidence Suggests Israeli Army Fired Close-Range Shots in Killing of Gaza Medics**
In a disturbing development, audio analysis by BBC Verify has revealed that Israeli soldiers fired more than 100 shots during an attack on emergency workers near Rafah in Gaza, with some shots being as close as 12 meters away. This finding supports the claim made by the Palestinian Red Crescent that the workers were “targeted at a very close-range”.
The incident occurred on April 5th, when a convoy of medics was ambushed and killed by Israeli forces. The Israeli army initially claimed that aerial footage showed troops firing from afar, but this has been disputed by eyewitnesses and medical experts.
**Analysis Suggests Troops Fired From Extremely Close Range**
Using sound waves and spectrograms, experts analyzed the audio from the incident and concluded that the first shots fired were from around 40-43 meters away. However, as the video progressed, the time gaps between the microphone and gunfire shortened, indicating that the gunfire was fired from increasingly close ranges. At the end of the video, the analysts determined that some shots were fired from as close as 12 meters.
“This is a disturbing revelation,” said Chris Cobb-Smith, a former British Army officer with over 20 years of experience in conducting investigations in conflict zones. “At 50 meters, the Israeli troops would have definitely been able to identify the convoy as humanitarian and determine that the personnel were unarmed and not posing a threat.”
**Israeli Army Denies Claims**
The Israeli army has declined to comment directly on these findings, but a spokesperson claimed that an investigation into the incident is ongoing. They also repeated claims about six of the victims being linked to Hamas without providing evidence.
However, the Palestinian Red Crescent, along with a ninth paramedic who survived the attack and was detained for 15 hours by Israeli forces, has rejected this claim.
**BBC Verify Continues Investigation**
The BBC Verify team will continue to investigate this incident and provide further analysis. Additional reporting by Thomas Spencer has highlighted concerns about the Israeli army’s handling of the situation and the lack of transparency in their investigation.
What do you want BBC Verify to investigate? Share your thoughts with us.