In December last year, a short video was posted on social media. Photos show members of Abu Salah’s family lying dead on a street in northern Gaza. I’ll start this story by showing you the video. But as a warning, it’s very graphic. Two brothers huddled together with their mother, Inshirah. Two other brothers lay in the street, one on a stretcher. Next to their father Saadi’s hand lay a white flag. What struck us about the footage was that for all the scenes of death and destruction we saw in Gaza, what we saw on the streets was actually quite rare. Often when we see evidence of civilian casualties in Gaza, these people were killed by bombs or rockets fired from a distance. If someone is shot, the aftermath is rarely captured. But they were all immediate family members and seemed to have been killed at the same time. As we will show, it was the Israeli army that shot them. But what was the situation like at that time, and why did the family get together? Why did they bring a stretcher and two shovels? So what about that white flag? When we reported our findings to the Israeli military, they did not deny responsibility. They said their forces in the area had “repeated encounters with terrorists who were operating and operating in combat zones in civilian clothes.” But our analysis of what happened shows the Abu Salah group posed no threat, but Still a close target with clear intent. Here’s the story of who they were, how they ended up on that street at noon on December 6, and how we determined that Israeli forces killed them. Thus, on October 8, just as Israel launched its military response to the October 7 attack, Abu Salah’s family was forced to leave their home in northern Gaza. Because of the war, it is very difficult to get in touch with people in northern Gaza. However, over the course of several months, we were able to contact Hanadi Abu Salah. She is the sister and daughter of the people we see die in the film. She was taking shelter at a school just 200 feet away from her family when she was killed and heard gunshots. In many conversations with her, Hanady was eager to talk about her family. Hanadi said their home was eventually destroyed in the fighting and their father dreamed of rebuilding it after the war. Like many Palestinians, they were forced to flee. They ended up living in a shelter converted from a girls’ high school with other displaced families. Yet the violence remains constant. The film was shot by Hanadi’s brother Ahmed. Ahmed was one of the brothers killed weeks later. The school they live in is here. It’s one of several schools in the neighborhood currently serving as shelters. Just down the road is the Indonesian Hospital. It has a strategic vision for the entire region. Understanding the composition and layout of the neighborhood is important because at the time of the killings, it was crowded with civilians coming and going. But the area is also the site of numerous clashes between Israeli forces and militants. The IDF says it aims to root out Hamas militants operating in and around Indonesian hospitals, and has widely accused Hamas of using the refugee camps as cover for its activities. “Hamas used the Indonesian hospital to hide its underground command and control center. They are today using the area around the hospital as a base of terror against Israel. In the weeks leading up to the killing of the Abu Salah family, the hospital was the site of an IDF operation was damaged at least twice. [explosion] In one of the cases, the IDF claimed that militants fired from inside the building. Due to the damage, the hospital can no longer function. After the surgery, a video captured several brothers helping clean up the damage inside the hospital. Ahmed. Mahmoud. Yusuf. And Sloor. This is likely the same building where they were shot. The night before the killings, witnesses told us they heard the sound of bulldozers inside the hospital, signaling the return of the IDF. Satellite images showed several buildings destroyed overnight. What happened the next morning set in motion a chain of events that led to Abu Salah being shot and killed hours later. Hanadi said the next morning seemed calmer, so her teenage nephew Assad went outside to see what had happened the night before. According to Hanadi, Israeli soldiers who currently control the hospital opened fire from inside the hospital building. We did raise this allegation with the Israel Defense Forces, but the response I mentioned earlier, that militants were disguising themselves as civilians in the area, did not specifically mention Assad’s death. Hanadi sent us a photo of Assad’s body, wrapped in a white shroud soaked in blood. Data from the document confirmed the photo was taken three hours before six other members of his family were killed. There is another detail worth mentioning about this photo. The orange stretcher visible beneath the shroud appears to match the type of stretcher seen in footage of his dead relatives. It’s also about another detail: the shovels they carry. Because according to Hanadi, they were on their way to bury Assad when they were shot. Hanadi told us her family first brought Assad from school to this hospital and then back to school so other family members could say goodbye. Finally, they carried him to the cemetery for burial. Therefore, the IDF may have seen the family carrying a stretcher to and from school on multiple occasions. Each time, they paused firing until the family returned to school after burying Assad. Hanadi had been waiting for hours for their return, and he began to worry. Then, around noon, they heard a loud bang. Both Hanadi and another person at the scene said the gunfire came from the direction of the Indonesian hospital. We know not only from eyewitnesses that the IDF took control of the hospital, but also from footage released by the Israeli military itself. The footage shows an operation to find evidence related to the October 7 attack. Although not dated, there are clues that it occurred on the day of the killing. First, look here. The sidewalk has been torn up. Satellite images taken two days earlier on December 4 showed that the road surface at the same location was smooth and undamaged. So this video should have been filmed after the 4th. Let’s take a look at this structure in the film. Satellite images from December 7 show that the same building here has been completely destroyed. This meant the film had to be shot before the satellite imagery was captured. The video also shows clear skies. Since it was cloudy on December 5th, it must have been taken on the 6th. Not only that, but judging by the length and direction of the shadows, the video was shot around 9 a.m., showing the soldier was in the hospital hours before Abu Salah was killed. In addition to hospitals, we found that the IDF occupied other positions within visibility and range of the shootings, including in these towers, where soldiers posted photos of themselves on social media taken before and after family members were killed. Other areas within range of the shooting were either occupied by displaced Palestinians or were not directly visible to the family. Now let’s examine the image of the corpse more closely. We spoke with forensic pathologists and crime scene reconstruction experts to learn more about the shooting. While no witnesses to the shooting were located, both experts said the condition of the family’s bodies suggested the footage was taken shortly after they were killed. Jonathyn Priest, former chief of the Denver Police Department’s homicide unit, said that because we see three members of the Abu Salah family huddled together, it “suggests a possible cowering or defensive posture.” That could mean they weren’t doing anything aggressive, he said. He also said some of the shooting that led to their deaths was likely because they were already on the ground, trying to protect each other from gunfire. Both experts also agreed that all of the family’s wounds were to their upper bodies, meaning they were killed by targeted shots rather than random gunfire. Neither the IDF nor the witnesses we interviewed mentioned any fighting between Israeli troops and militants in the streets when the family was killed. So that also rules out the possibility that they were killed in the crossfire. In some social media posts, at least one family member appeared to express sympathy for Hamas before the Oct. 7 attack, and Hanadi himself expressed sympathy during the attack. But there is no evidence these views played any role in the family’s killings. The IDF tells CNN that the killings of the Abu Salah family have been referred to military investigators who are looking into potential cases of misconduct by the Israeli military. But these findings are rarely made public, and rights groups say the Israeli military rarely punishes soldiers for harming Palestinians. Despite our repeated requests for an update on the investigation, the IDF said they had nothing to add. As for the white flag held by Saadi Abu Salah, we have seen it used by other civilians in Gaza to show the IDF that they are not a threat. In some cases, civilians carrying such flags— [gunshot] Still came under fire, including three Israeli hostages who used makeshift white flags to identify themselves to Israeli forces. The IDF rarely comments on the civilians who were killed while holding white flags, but admitted its mistakes after the hostages were shot dead. The Israel Defense Forces also said Hamas militants carry white flags to blend in with civilians and conceal their movements. The next morning, IDF troops began mass arrests of those who stayed nearby. The military said the arrests were necessary to determine whether Hamas militants were hiding among civilians. Hanadi and her surviving relatives traveled to central Gaza that day, but the bodies of her family members remained in the streets. After a few weeks, Israeli forces withdrew from the area and residents ventured out. A local reporter captured video of what at first glance appears to be piles of bulldozed rubble. But soon it became apparent that limbs, a head and torso, clothing and wounds all matched those of Abu Salah. These are the family’s remains, which were bulldozed into a pile of trash not far from where they were shot.
