Middle East: Video contradicts IDF on aid workers' deaths

The Israeli military promised an independent investigation into a March 23 operation in which its forces opened fire on ambulances in Gaza. 

"All claims, including the documentation circulating about the incident, will be thoroughly and deeply examined to understand the sequence of events and the handling of the situation," it said.

The military said the probe would be led by an expert fact-finding body "responsible for examining exceptional incidents" during the war.

Earlier, a video released by the Palestinian Red Crescent had cast doubt on the Israeli military's account of the killing of 15 paramedics and civilian defense workers in Gaza. 

The video, shared by the rescue service on X, shows clearly marked ambulances and a fire truck driving with their headlights and blue emergency lights on.

The Israeli military said at the time that its forces opened fire on several vehicles after they suspiciously approached troops without coordination or headlights.

Iran's rial traded at an all-time low against the US dollar, costing more than 1 million rials for a single greenback as tensions between Tehran and Washington escalate.

US President Donald Trump has stepped up his so-called "maximum pressure" campaign on Tehran, imposing sanctions on firms trading Iranian crude oil.

In 2018, during his first term, Trump withdrew the US from a deal between world powers and the Islamic Republic over the country's nuclear ambitions.

The deal, agreed three years earlier, had cut punitive sanctions that had crippled the economy in return for Iran drastically limiing its enrichment and stockpiling of uranium.

At the time of the deal, the rial traded at 32,000 to the dollar.

Despite upping the pressure, Trump has written Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, trying to jumpstart direct negotiations between Tehran and Washington.

Iran continues to insist on indirect talks.

Israel has detained and refused entry to two British lawmakers visiting as part of a parliamentary delegation, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.

"It is unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning that two British MPs on a parliamentary delegation to Israel have been detained and refused entry by the Israeli authorities," Lammy wrote on social media.

Sky News, citing a statement from the Israeli immigration ministry, said the detainees were Labor MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed, who were rejected because they were suspected of plans to "document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israeli hatred."

Lammy said that he had "made clear" to his counterparts in the Israeli government that it is "no way" to treat parliamentarians.

A US envoy to the Middle East has held "constructive" talks with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, a statement from the president's office said.

The talks between Aoun and US Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, focused on the partially-stalled conflict in southern Lebanon and the country's ongoing economic reforms aimed at combating corruption, the statement said.

Ortagus also held separate meetings with Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri.

The visit comes amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, which came into effect in November.

A senior Lebanese official told local media that the country's leaders planned to stress the need for full implementation of the ceasefire deal.

In recent weeks, several rockets have been fired from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel, prompting retaliation by Israel.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has denied responsibility for the attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet US President Donald Trump on Monday, four Israeli officials and a White House official said on Saturday.

The impromptu in-person visit could mark the first by a foreign leader to try to negotiate a deal to remove tariffs announced by Trump this week.

As part of the "reciprocal" tariff plan, Israeli goods entering the United States will be slapped with a 17% tariff.

Israel had already moved to cancel its remaining tariffs on around just 2% of US imports.

One of the officials said the talks would also focus on Turkey's growing influence in neighboring Syria, tensions with Iran and the conflict in Gaza.

Netanyahu's office has yet to confirm the visit with Israel's closest ally and largest single trading partner.
The Israeli leader has been in Hungary this week, defying an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over the Gaza war.

Israel says troops have deployed to a newly established security corridor across southern Gaza to ramp up the pressure on the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Hamas is considered a terror group by not only Israel, but also the US, Germany and some other countries. 

A military statement said troops with the 36th Division had been deployed to the new Morag Corridor, which is due to cut off the southern city of Rafah from the rest of the territory.

It was not immediately clear how many soldiers had deployed or where exactly the corridor was located.

Morag is the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis.

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested the corridor would run between the two cities.

He said Morag would be "a second Philadelphi corridor," referring to the Gaza side of the border with Egypt further south, which has been under Israeli control since last May.

Israel has also reasserted control over the Netzarim corridor that cuts off the northern third of Gaza, including Gaza City, from the rest of the territory.

Both earlier corridors run from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea.

Video footage appears to contradict Israel's claim that the vehicles carrying 15 Palestinian medics killed in southern Gaza last month did not have emergency lights flashing, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

The aid agency said the video, posted to X, was recovered from the cell phone of aid worker Rifat Radwan. It shows the medics' last moments, with clearly marked ambulances and emergency lights flashing as heavy gunfire erupts.

The nearly 7-minute video, apparently filmed from inside a moving vehicle, captures a red firetruck and ambulances driving through the night amid constant automatic gunfire. 

The vehicles stop beside another on the roadside, and two uniformed men get out, the Red Crescent said.

The teams do not appear to be acting unusually or in a threatening manner as three medics emerge from the vehicles and head toward a stricken ambulance, which had come under attack earlier.

Seconds later, a volley of gunfire breaks out and the screen goes black.

"This video unequivocally refutes the occupation's claims that Israeli forces did not randomly target ambulances and that some vehicles had approached suspiciously without lights or emergency markings," the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement. "The footage exposes the truth and dismantles this false narrative."

Those killed included eight Red Crescent staff, six members of the Gaza civil defense agency and a worker of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

The Israeli military has said its soldiers "did not randomly attack" any ambulances, insisting they fired on "terrorists" approaching them in "suspicious vehicles."

Welcome to DW's coverage on the latest developments in the Middle East. 

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