Al Jazeera Called Three Palestinians Killed by Israel a 'Medical Crew,' But a Pro-Israel Blogger Uncovered Something Different

Three Palestinian men described by Al Jazeera as being part of a "medical crew" who were killed in an Israeli airstrike while they were riding in an ambulance last month were actually operatives with the terrorist group Islamic Jihad, a pro-Israel blogger discovered.

While several Palestinian news sites, including Ma’an and IMEMC, described the men killed in the Aug. 1 strike alternately as a “nurse,” “paramedic”  and a “health worker,” the pro-Israel blog Elder of Ziyon on Monday discovered their death notices issued by the Al Quds Brigades — the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group the State Department classifies as a terrorist organization.

The Elder of Ziyon blog pointed out that the Palestine Center for Human Rights, whose statistics the United Nations and some media outlets utilize, wrote: “At approximately 15:30 (August 1), Israeli warplanes bombarded an ambulance of the Ministry of Health. As a result, 3 health workers were killed: 'Aatef Saleh al-Zameli, 42, the driver; Yousef Ejmai'an al-Zameli, 33, a nurse; and Yousef Jaber Darabih, 25, a volunteer paramedic.”

Here are the “martyr” posters EoZ dug up:

"Aatef Saleh al-Zameli was killed in an ambulance August 1. This photo shows him in the uniform of Palestinian Islamic Jihad's military wing the Al Quds Brigades." (Image source: Al Quds Brigades website)

The “nurse” whom Al Jazeera identified as Yousef Elshiekh Eid can be seen in this poster memorializing him. (Note that when names are transliterated into English, the spelling can be different. The poster includes an additional middle name for the man.)

The poster identified the militant as Yousef Ahmad Sheikh al-Eid (Image source: Al Quds Brigades)

The alleged "volunteer paramedic" Yousef Jaber Darabih (Image source: Al Quds Brigades)

Elder of Ziyon observed that their affiliation with the terrorist organization “indicates that the Gaza Ministry of Health was not only working closely with the Al Qassam Brigades [Hamas' military wing] to use their ambulances to transport terrorists and probably weapons, but they also worked with Islamic Jihad.”

While the U.N. Human Rights Council has appointed a panel to investigate what it terms “war crimes,” the Israeli government has called it a "kangaroo court" and believes based on past experience that the U.N. will not probe Hamas and Islamic Jihad actions.

The Israel Defense Forces documented the use of ambulances by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza during the 50 days of hostilities which ended last week as part of the militants' strategy of hiding behind human shields.

For example, several reporters who covered the fighting from Gaza revealed that Hamas used Gaza’s main medical facility, Shifa Hospital, as its headquarters.

(H/T: Elder of Ziyon)