In December final 12 months, a brief video was posted on social media. Pictures present members of Abu Salah’s household mendacity useless on a road in northern Gaza. I will begin this story by displaying you the video. However as a warning, it’s totally graphic. Two brothers huddled along with their mom, Inshirah. Two different brothers lay on the street, one on a stretcher. Their father, Saadi, holds a white flag subsequent to his hand. What struck us in regards to the footage was that for all of the scenes of loss of life and destruction we noticed in Gaza, what we noticed on the streets was really fairly uncommon. Usually once we see proof of civilian casualties in Gaza, these folks have been killed by bombs or rockets fired from a distance. If somebody is shot, the aftermath isn’t captured. However they have been all instant members of the family and appeared to have been killed on the similar time. As we are going to present, it was the Israeli military that shot them. However what was the state of affairs like at the moment, and why did the household get collectively? Why did they create a stretcher and two shovels? So what about that white flag? Once we reported our findings to the Israeli navy, they didn’t deny accountability. They mentioned their forces within the space had “repeated encounters with terrorists working and working in fight zones in civilian garments.” However our evaluation of what occurred reveals that Abu Salah didn’t pose a risk, Nevertheless it was nonetheless a detailed goal with clear intentions. Here is the story of who they have been, how they ended up on that road at midday on December 6, and the way we decided that Israeli forces killed them. Thus, on October 8, simply as Israel launched its navy response to the October 7 assault, Abu Salah’s household was compelled to go away their dwelling in northern Gaza. Due to the battle, it is extremely troublesome to get in contact with folks in northern Gaza. Nonetheless, over the course of a number of months, we have been capable of contact Hanadi Abu Salah. She is the sister and daughter of the deceased we see within the movie. She was taking shelter at a faculty simply 200 toes away from her household when she was killed and heard gunshots. In lots of conversations together with her, Hanady was keen to speak about her household. Hanadi mentioned their dwelling was ultimately destroyed within the preventing and their father dreamed of rebuilding it after the battle. Like many Palestinians, they have been compelled to flee. They ended up dwelling in a shelter transformed from a women’ highschool with different displaced households. But the violence stays fixed. The movie was shot by Hanadi’s brother Ahmed. Ahmed was one of many brothers killed weeks later. The varsity they dwell in is right here. It is certainly one of a number of colleges within the neighborhood presently serving as shelters. Simply down the street is the Indonesian Hospital. It has a strategic imaginative and prescient for the whole area. Understanding the composition and format of the neighborhood is necessary as a result of on the time of the killings, it was crowded with civilians coming and going. However the space can be the location of quite a few clashes between Israeli forces and militants. The IDF says it goals to root out Hamas militants working in and round Indonesian hospitals, and has broadly accused Hamas of utilizing the refugee camps as cowl for its actions. “Hamas used the Indonesian hospital to cover an underground command and management heart. They’re at this time utilizing the realm across the hospital as a base of terror in opposition to Israel. Within the weeks main as much as the killing of the Abu Salah household, the hospital was concerned in IDF operations was broken no less than twice. [explosion] In one of many instances, the IDF claimed that militants fired from contained in the constructing. As a result of injury, the hospital can now not operate. After the surgical procedure, a video captured a number of brothers serving to clear up the injury contained in the hospital. Ahmed. Mahmoud. Yusuf. And Sloor. That is possible the identical constructing the place they have been shot. The night time earlier than the killings, witnesses advised us they heard the sound of bulldozers contained in the hospital, signaling the return of the IDF. Satellite tv for pc pictures confirmed a number of buildings destroyed in a single day. What occurred the subsequent morning set in movement a series of occasions that led to Abu Salah being shot and killed hours later. Hanadi mentioned the subsequent morning appeared calmer, so her teenage nephew Assad went exterior to see what had occurred the night time earlier than. In accordance with Hanadi, Israeli troopers who presently management the hospital opened hearth from contained in the hospital constructing. We did increase this allegation with the Israel Protection Forces, however the response I discussed earlier, that militants have been disguising themselves as civilians within the space, didn’t particularly point out Assad’s loss of life. Hanadi despatched us a photograph of Assad’s physique, wrapped in a white shroud soaked in blood. Knowledge from the doc confirmed the picture was taken three hours earlier than six different members of his household have been killed. There may be one other element price mentioning about this picture. The orange stretcher seen beneath the shroud seems to match the kind of stretcher seen in footage of his useless kin. It is also about one other element: the shovels they carried. As a result of in response to Hanadi, they have been on their strategy to bury Assad after they have been shot. Hanadi advised us her household first introduced Assad from faculty to this hospital after which again to highschool so different members of the family might say goodbye. Lastly, they carried him to the cemetery for burial. Due to this fact, the IDF could have seen the household carrying a stretcher to and from faculty on a number of events. Every time, they paused firing till the household returned to highschool after burying Assad. Hanadi had been ready for hours for his or her return, and he started to fret. Then, round midday, they heard a gunshot. Each Hanadi and one other particular person on the scene mentioned the gunfire got here from the route of the Indonesian hospital. We all know not solely from eyewitnesses that the IDF took management of the hospital, but additionally from footage launched by the Israeli navy itself. The footage reveals an operation to seek out proof associated to the October 7 assault. Though not dated, there are clues that it occurred on the day of the killing. First, look right here. The sidewalk has been torn up. Satellite tv for pc pictures taken two days earlier on December 4 confirmed that the street floor on the similar location was clean and undamaged. So this video ought to have been filmed after the 4th. Let’s check out this construction within the movie. Satellite tv for pc pictures from December 7 present that the identical constructing right here has been utterly destroyed. This meant that the movie needed to be shot earlier than the satellite tv for pc imagery was captured. The video additionally reveals clear skies. Because it was cloudy on December fifth, it should have been taken on the sixth. Not solely that, however judging by the size and route of the shadows, the video was shot round 9 a.m., displaying the soldier was within the hospital hours earlier than Abu Salah was killed. Along with hospitals, we discovered that the IDF occupied different positions inside visibility and vary of the shootings, together with in these towers, the place troopers posted images of themselves on social media taken earlier than and after members of the family have been killed. Different areas inside vary of the capturing have been both occupied by displaced Palestinians or weren’t immediately seen to the household. Now let’s look at the picture of the corpse extra carefully. We spoke with forensic pathologists and crime scene reconstruction specialists to be taught extra in regards to the capturing. Whereas no witnesses to the capturing have been situated, each specialists mentioned the situation of the household’s our bodies instructed the footage was taken shortly after they have been killed. Jonathyn Priest, former chief of the Denver Police Division’s murder unit, mentioned that as a result of we see three members of the Abu Salah household huddled collectively, it “suggests a doable cowering or defensive posture.” He mentioned that would imply they weren’t doing something aggressive. He additionally mentioned a number of the capturing that led to their deaths was possible as a result of they have been already on the bottom, attempting to guard one another from gunfire. Each specialists additionally agreed that the entire household’s wounds have been to their higher our bodies, which means they have been killed by focused pictures relatively than random gunfire. Neither the IDF nor the witnesses we interviewed talked about any preventing between Israeli troops and militants within the streets when the household was killed. So this additionally guidelines out the chance that they have been killed within the crossfire. In some social media posts, no less than one member of the family appeared to specific sympathy for Hamas earlier than the Oct. 7 assault, and Hanadi himself expressed sympathy throughout the assault. However there is no such thing as a proof that these views performed any function within the household’s killings. The IDF tells CNN that the killings of the Abu Salah household have been turned over to navy investigators, who’re trying into potential instances of misconduct by the Israeli navy. However these findings are not often made public, and human rights teams say the Israeli navy not often punishes troopers who hurt Palestinians. Regardless of our repeated requests for an replace on the investigation, the IDF mentioned that they had nothing so as to add. As for the white flag held by Saadi Abu Salah, we’ve got seen it utilized by different civilians in Gaza to point out the IDF that they don’t seem to be a risk. In some instances, civilians carrying such flags— [gunshot] Nonetheless got here underneath hearth, together with three Israeli hostages who used makeshift white flags to establish themselves to Israeli forces. The IDF not often feedback on the civilians who have been killed holding white flags, however admitted its errors after the hostages have been shot useless. The Israel Protection Forces additionally mentioned Hamas militants carry white flags to mix in with civilians and conceal their actions. The subsequent morning, IDF troops started mass arrests of those that stayed close by. The navy mentioned the arrests have been needed to find out whether or not Hamas militants have been hiding amongst civilians. Hanadi and her surviving kin traveled to central Gaza that day, however the our bodies of her members of the family remained within the streets. After a number of weeks, Israeli forces withdrew from the realm and residents ventured out. A neighborhood reporter captured video of what at first look seems to be piles of bulldozed rubble. However quickly it grew to become obvious that limbs, a head and torso, clothes and wounds all matched these of Abu Salah. These are the household’s stays, which have been bulldozed right into a pile of trash not removed from the place they have been shot.
