Asaad Al Nsasrah gripped his father’s shoulders as they both sat in their family’s tent in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, relieved to be reunited after he was detained for over five weeks in Israeli custody.
“It’s okay dad, I’m here,” he said, gripping his ageing father’s shoulders and hissing: “I came back to you. It’s okay.”
Mr Nsasrah was one of the two Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics who survived an attack by Israeli forces on 23 March, which killed 15 emergency workers.
His friends and family members thought they may never see him again.
For three weeks after the incident, no one knew if the paramedic was dead or alive. It was only on 13 April that the PRCS announced they had discovered he was in an Israeli detention centre.
He’s been released, but Mr Nsasrah hasn’t yet spoken publicly about the attack on the aid convoy, or about his time in the Israeli prison.
But clues are beginning to emerge about what exactly happened to him, and why he was detained for so long – including a new video recording that Sky News has obtained of a call that he made to the PRCS dispatch centre during the attack.
This adds to the body of visual and audio evidence that we’re collating about what exactly happened that morning.
The IDF told Sky News that he was arrested based on their intelligence that indicated his involvement in terrorist activity.
“During his detention, he was questioned and held under a temporary custody order. At the conclusion of the questioning, and based on the information gathered, it was decided not to issue a permanent detention order, and he was released,” the spokesperson said in an email, adding that: “The IDF operates in accordance with the law.”
The timeline we’ve pieced together shows the attack begins at 5.08am, and gunfire can be heard for more than five minutes, during which time over 100 shots were fired.
Call made during attack
The new video recording we obtained shows that Mr Nsasrah made a call to his colleagues at the dispatch centre after the attack had started.
Based on information visible on the screen, the call began at 6.55am, while the video begins at 7.03am and ends at 7.07am.
At the start of the clip, we hear multiple voices talking calmly in Hebrew.
By this point, given the proximity of the voices to the microphone, it’s clear Mr Nsasrah is not in hiding but has been apprehended by the Israeli soldiers.
After a short while, a soldier shouts in Hebrew: “Come!”
“Leave them here together,” a soldier says.
A soldier speaks Arabic, presumably to the prisoners. “Shut up, shut up!”, he shouts. “Quickly, shut up!”
In Hebrew, a soldier says: “Take off your bag at this battery.”
Expert’s view – formal commands
Chris Lincoln Jones, a former British military officer familiar with the IDF, told us that this sounded like a formal command by a superior, and the word “battery” refers to a firing position occupied by soldiers.
“Battery normally means artillery unit or position. But it doesn’t look like that in this context. It sounds like a formal order from a superior and the battery could refer to a firing position or a strongpoint by occupied soldiers,” he said.
In the recording, the names of multiple soldiers are audible. The IDF has not responded to Sky News’ request for comment about which members of the Israeli forces were present at the time.
Two minutes into the audio, we can hear a more senior figure addressing soldiers by name – it’s clear there’s a chain of command.
Second survivor also detained
Sky News interviewed the only other survivor, Munther Abed, who described being arrested alongside Mr Nsasrah. Unlike his colleague, Mr Abed was only detained for a matter of hours.
“The only member of the medics I saw was Asaad al Nsasrah,” he said.
“He was accompanied by an Israeli officer and was beaten before he placed him next to me.
“We used to whisper to one another, I mean, talking in a low voice so that the army would not hear us, and start beating us,” he added.
After an internal investigation into the incident, the deputy commander of the IDF unit that carried out the shootings was dismissed and another was reprimanded. No charges have been brought against anyone involved.
Read more:
Sky News investigation reveals how attack on aid workers unfolded
Israeli troops shot at Gaza aid workers from ‘point-blank range’
Gaza aid shipment bombed by drones
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An IDF spokesperson told Sky News that Mr Nsasrah was arrested “under suspicion”, and during questioning in the field, they say, they found the suspicion had a basis which led to his detention.
The IDF has faced international condemnation for repeatedly changing its explanation about what happened that day – often only when new evidence has emerged.
Now he’s been released, questions remain about Mr Nsasrah’s detention, adding to the growing disquiet about the IDFs conduct.
