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    Israel Says Its Account of Rescue Workers Killed in Gaza Was Partly ‘Mistaken’

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    The Israeli military had previously asserted that the workers had been “advancing suspiciously” toward its troops. A video obtained by The New York Times on Friday appeared to contradict that account.The Israeli military on Saturday acknowledged that the initial accounts from troops involved in the killing last month of 15 people in southern Gaza — who the United Nations said were paramedics and rescue workers — had been partially “mistaken.”The assessment, which was shared in a briefing with reporters by an Israeli military official, came the day after a video obtained by The New York Times appeared to contradict the military’s earlier version of events. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under army rules.The Israeli military official said the internal investigation of the attack, which has drawn international scrutiny and condemnation, is ongoing.Briefing reporters on Saturday night on the military’s initial findings, the official said forces from a reserve infantry brigade had been lying in ambush along a road to the north of the Gazan city of Rafah in the pre-dawn hours of March 23 and, at 4 a.m., had killed what he described as two Hamas security personnel and detained a third one.Two hours later, as dawn was breaking, a convoy of ambulances and a fire truck approached the same spot. The Israeli forces were still on the ground and received a report from a surveillance aircraft that the convoy was moving toward them, the official said. When the rescue workers arrived and left their vehicles, he said, the forces believed that more Hamas operatives had arrived and opened fire on the occupants of the vehicles from afar.The Israeli military had previously asserted, repeatedly and erroneously, that the vehicles were “advancing suspiciously” toward the troops “without headlights or emergency signals.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Video Shows Aid Workers Killed in Gaza Under Gunfire Barrage, With Ambulance Lights On

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      The U.N. has said Israel killed the workers. The video appears to contradict Israel’s version of events, which said the vehicles were “advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals.A video captured the moment Israeli troops opened fire on a group of medics in Gaza in late March.A video, discovered on the cellphone of a paramedic who was found along with 14 other aid workers in a mass grave in the Gaza in late March, shows that the ambulances and fire truck that they were traveling in were clearly marked and had their emergency signal lights on when Israeli troops hit them with a barrage of gunfire.Officials from the Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a news conference on Friday at the United Nations moderated by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies that they had presented the nearly seven-minute recording, which was obtained by The New York Times, to the U.N. Security Council.An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said earlier this week that Israeli forces did not “randomly attack” an ambulance, but that several vehicles “were identified advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals toward Israeli troops, prompting them to shoot. Colonel Shoshani said earlier in the week that nine of those killed were Palestinian militants. Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the video.The Times obtained the video from a senior diplomat at the United Nations who asked not to be identified to be able to share sensitive information.The Times verified the location and timing of the video, which was taken in the city of southern city of Rafah early on March 23. Filmed from what appears to be the front interior of a moving vehicle, it shows a convoy of ambulances and a fire truck, clearly marked, with headlights and flashing lights turned on, driving south on a road to the north of Rafah in the early morning. The first rays of sun can be seen, and birds are chirping.The convoy stops when it encounters a vehicle that had veered onto the side of the road — one ambulance had been sent earlier to aid wounded civilians and had come under attack. The new rescue vehicles detour to the side of the road.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Some Aid Workers Killed in Gaza Were Shot Multiple Times, Officials Say

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      The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that nearly all of the 15 bodies recovered had gunshot wounds.Days after the United Nations accused Israel of killing 15 humanitarian workers in Gaza, officials who recovered the bodies or carried out the autopsies said some of the rescue workers were shot multiple times before being buried in a mass grave.The Palestine Red Crescent Society, which had eight of its members killed and carried out the recovery mission, said that nearly all 15 bodies showed gunshot wounds, according to a spokeswoman, Nebal Farsakh. One paramedic was found with his hands and feet tied toward his body, Ms. Farsakh said.“My colleagues were shot; the bodies who were retrieved, many of them have multiple gun shots. We found all of them thrown in a mass grave, the bodies were put next to each other and covered with sand,” said Ms. Farsakh in a telephone interview from Ramallah.The deaths of the aid workers, who first went missing on March 23, have drawn international condemnation in recent days.On that day, in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, ambulances and a U.N. vehicle came under attack from Israel’s military, then went silent. On Sunday, rescue teams found 15 bodies, most in a shallow mass grave along with their crushed ambulances and the vehicle marked with the U.N. logo. The United Nations, which is typically cautious about assigning blame, accused Israel of killing them.An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said on X on Monday that nine of those killed were Palestinian militants. He said Israeli forces “did not randomly attack” an ambulance, but that several vehicles “were identified advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals toward Israeli troops, prompting them to shoot.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Hegseth Pledges to Step Up Military Cooperation With Japan and Deter China

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      The U.S. defense secretary sought to reassure its ally over security ties and vowed to speed up the creation of a joint “war-fighting headquarters” to deter China.Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrapped up his first official visit to the Asia on Sunday by offering reassurances to Japan that President Trump wants a stronger military alliance in the region to deter an increasingly assertive China.Following an 85-minute meeting in Tokyo with his Japanese counterpart, Mr. Hegseth said the Trump administration would abide by promises to increase security cooperation with its staunch ally. This would include speeding up a Biden administration-era plan to create a new joint U.S.-Japan military command in Tokyo that he called a “war-fighting headquarters,” although Mr. Hesgeth did not say when it would become operational. He also said there would be more joint military exercises in the Okinawa islands near Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China says is part of its territory and has threatened to take by force.Mr. Hegseth arrived in Japan from the Philippines, another U.S. ally, where the defense secretary also sought to allay anxiety about the Trump administration’s commitment to the region. Japan has watched with concern as the United States has broken with traditional allies in Europe to seek a deal that might allow Russia to keep territory seized from Ukraine.U.S. Marines training on the Japanese island of Okinawa.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesJapanese officials have worried in private that such concessions might encourage China to make a move on Taiwan. After the meeting with Gen Nakatani, the Japanese defense minister, Mr. Hegseth struck a strident tone about the alliance, proclaiming that the United States would work with Japan to secure “peace through strength” that will deter the Chinese from taking action.“America first does not mean America alone,” Mr. Hegseth told reporters. “America and Japan stand firmly together in the face of aggressive and coercive actions by the communist Chinese.” Mr. Hegseth did not address concerns about his sharing of military information on the Signal chat app that included a journalist.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Search for Missing US Soldiers in Lithuania Continues as Crews Work to Extract Vehicle

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      The search in dense, muddy swampland came after the U.S. Army vehicle disappeared in a waterlogged area on Tuesday.The president of Lithuania on Friday visited swampland near his country’s border with Belarus, saying he was “hoping for a miracle” as military and civilian rescue crews worked frantically to extract a heavy United States Army vehicle carrying four American soldiers that disappeared in the waterlogged forest area on Tuesday.The American vehicle, an M88 Hercules, went missing during a military training exercise and was found on Wednesday submerged in a muddy bog. The soldiers have not been found, and efforts to reach the vehicle have been hampered by deep mud and water from a nearby lake.A Lithuanian official involved in the rescue mission who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter said tracks in the ground indicated that the American vehicle had veered off a sandy path toward a small pond and then turned abruptly into a wooded area that ended up being a swamp. It seemed to have sunk quickly, the person said, but it was unclear what happened to the crew.“Although many skeptics would probably say that there is nothing to hope for in these circumstances, I want to hope,” President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania said during a visit to the site on Friday. “I am still hoping for a miracle,” he added.The missing soldiers, from the First Brigade, Third Infantry Division, were training near Pabrade, a city in eastern Lithuania near the border with Belarus, a close ally of Russia and a stalwart supporter of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.The U.S. ambassador to Lithuania, Kara C. McDonald, speaking to the news media next to Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nauseda, at the site of a rescue operation on Friday.Janis Laizans/ReutersWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      U.S. Adds Export Restrictions to More Chinese Tech Firms Over Security Concerns

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      The additions included companies that are customers of Intel and Nvidia, and one firm that was the focus of a New York Times investigation last year.The Trump administration on Tuesday added 80 companies and organizations to a list of companies that are barred from buying American technology and other exports because of national security concerns.The move, which targeted primarily Chinese firms, cracks down on companies that have been big buyers of American chips from Nvidia, Intel and AMD. It also closed loopholes that Trump administration officials have long criticized as allowing Chinese firms to continue to advance technologically despite U.S. restrictions.One company added to the list, Nettrix Information Industry, was the focus of a 2024 investigation by The New York Times that showed how some Chinese executives had bypassed U.S. restrictions aimed at cutting China off from advanced chips to make artificial intelligence.Nettrix, one of China’s largest makers of computer servers that are used to produce artificial intelligence, was started by a group of former executives from Sugon, a firm that provided advanced computing to the Chinese military and built a system the government used to surveil persecuted minorities in the western Xinjiang region.In 2019, the United States added Sugon to its “entity list,” restricting exports over national security concerns. The Times investigation found that, six months later, the executives formed Nettrix, using Sugon’s technology and inheriting some of its customers. Times reporters also found that Nettrix’s owners shared a complex in eastern China with Sugon and other related companies.After Sugon was singled out and restricted by the United States, its longtime partners — Nvidia, Intel and Microsoft — quickly formed ties with Nettrix, the investigation found.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian Director of ‘No Other Land,’ Is Attacked in West Bank, Witnesses Say

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      Hamdan Ballal was assaulted by masked attackers in his home village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, witnesses said. The Israeli military said he had been detained for questioning.A Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” was beaten bloody near his home by Israeli settlers and detained by the Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank on Monday evening, witnesses said.The director, Hamdan Ballal, was set upon in Susya, his home village, by at least 20 masked people, mostly teenagers armed with rocks, sticks and knives, according to Joseph Kaplan Weinger, 26, who said he had come upon the attack after it began. Mr. Weinger is part of a volunteer initiative that provides protection in areas vulnerable to settler violence.It was not clear what prompted the attack, but Mr. Weinger, who is also a doctoral student in sociology at the University of California in Los Angeles, said the group had descended on Susya, which is south of Hebron, and assaulted West Bank residents as they were breaking the fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. Some mockingly shouted holiday blessings as they did so, he said.Mr. Weinger said that he began honking the car horn in an attempt to alert nearby Israeli soldiers to the attack, but that the Israeli forces prevented him and two companions from reaching Mr. Ballal’s home.“Soldiers just stood around,” he said. “Later, when we got there, we saw his blood on the ground.”Mr. Ballal, 37, was one of three Palestinians detained, according to witnesses and the Israeli military. Leah Zemel, a lawyer representing the detainees, said that she had been informed that they were being held in a military center for medical treatment ahead of questioning, but that she did not know the reason for their detention.The Israeli military said in a statement that “several terrorists” had hurled rocks at Israeli citizens, damaging their vehicles near Susya and prompting a “violent confrontation” that involved “mutual rock hurling between Palestinians and Israelis.” The military said that when its forces and the police arrived, “terrorists” threw rocks at them.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sudan’s Military Sweeps Across Capital, Hoping to Turn the War

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      At the battle-scarred presidential palace in the heart of Sudan’s shattered capital, soldiers gathered under a chandelier on Sunday afternoon, rifles and rocket launchers slung over their shoulders, listening to their orders.Then they trooped out, down a red carpet that once welcomed foreign dignitaries, and into the deserted center of the city on a mission to flush out the last pockets of resistance from the paramilitary fighters with whom they have been clashing for two years.Since Sudan’s military captured the presidential palace on Friday, in a fierce battle that left hundreds dead, it has taken control of most of central Khartoum, marking a momentous change of fortunes that is likely to change the course of Sudan’s ruinous civil war.By Sunday, the military had seized the Central Bank, the headquarters of the national intelligence service and the towering Corinthia Hotel along the Nile.Journalists from The New York Times were the first from a Western outlet to cross the Nile, into central Khartoum, or to visit the palace, since the war erupted in April 2023. What we saw there made clear how decisively the events of recent days have shifted the direction of the war, but offered little hope that it will end soon.“We will never leave our country to the mercenaries,” said Mohamed Ibrahim, a special forces officer, referring to the R.S.F. — the paramilitary force that Sudan’s army once nurtured, but is now its rival for supreme control.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Israel Expands Gaza Offensive and Issues Fresh Evacuation Orders

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      The Israeli military took control of more territory and said that operations had moved into additional areas in the north and south of the enclave.Israeli forces were expanding their offensive in Gaza on Sunday, taking control of more territory and issuing fresh evacuation orders for residents who had only recently returned to their homes.The Israeli military renewed its offensive in Gaza this past week after talks to extend a fragile, temporary cease-fire that came into effect in mid-January reached an impasse. On Sunday, it said that those operations had moved into additional areas in the north and south of the enclave.Israel said that its troops had begun operating in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, to expand a buffer zone. The military also said that it had carried out more airstrikes against Hamas targets and infrastructure and that it was allowing people to evacuate.The military also separately issued an evacuation order for the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of the southern city of Rafah, telling residents to leave on foot along a specific route and barring the movement of vehicles.The Rafah municipality said in a statement that thousands of families were being forced to flee on foot under bombardment during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. That left them homeless amid a severe shortage of basic necessities and tents because of the Israeli government’s closure of the crossings into Gaza, the municipality noted.Buildings destroyed by overnight Israeli strikes in central Gaza on Sunday.Eyad Baba/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More