Consider This from NPR Israel's changing story of an attack on rescue workers
Apr 23, 2025
12:21
On March 23, the death toll in Gaza surpassed 50,000 people killed by Israeli fire in the war with Hamas.
This is the story of 15 people who were killed the same day.
There were airstrikes across the territory, and in the south Israeli troops opened fire on a crew of emergency workers in ambulances and a firetruck.
At first, the Israeli military said the vehicles were "advancing suspiciously" toward troops, "without headlights or emergency signals." It said the soldiers had eliminated a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.
A recording unearthed days later told a different story ultimately leading the Israel to conduct an investigation. The results blamed an "operational misunderstanding" and cite professional failures.
In more than 18 months of war – it's been rare for the Israeli Military to acknowledge failure.
Coming up the story of what happened.
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This is the story of 15 people who were killed the same day.
There were airstrikes across the territory, and in the south Israeli troops opened fire on a crew of emergency workers in ambulances and a firetruck.
At first, the Israeli military said the vehicles were "advancing suspiciously" toward troops, "without headlights or emergency signals." It said the soldiers had eliminated a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.
A recording unearthed days later told a different story ultimately leading the Israel to conduct an investigation. The results blamed an "operational misunderstanding" and cite professional failures.
In more than 18 months of war – it's been rare for the Israeli Military to acknowledge failure.
Coming up the story of what happened.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy