AN ISRAELI investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics in Gaza last month has blamed a chain of "professional failures," leading to the sacking of a deputy commander.

With medical workers enjoying special protection under international humanitarian law, the shootings caused widespread outrage in the international community, with some calling them a war crime.

The International Red Crescent called the attack the deadliest on its personnel in eight years.

Israel at first claimed that the medics' vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire, but it later backtracked.

Mobile phone footage recovered from one medic contradicted Israel’s initial account. It shows that the ambulances had lights flashing and logos visible as they pulled up to help another ambulance that had come under fire earlier.

The military investigation, whose conclusion were published on Sunday, found that the deputy battalion commander had acted under the incorrect assumption that all the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants. 

It said the deputy commander, operating with “poor night visibility,” had believed his troops to be under threat when the ambulances sped toward their position and medics rushed out to check the victims. 

The military said the flashing lights were less visible on night-vision drones and goggles.

The ambulances immediately came under a barrage of gunfire that went on for more than five minutes, with brief pauses. Minutes later, soldiers opened fire at a United Nations car that had stopped at the scene.

Eight Red Crescent personnel, six civil defence workers and a UN staff member were killed in the shooting before dawn on March 23 by troops conducting operations in Tel al-Sultan, a district of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. 

Troops bulldozed over the bodies along with their mangled vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later.

The Israeli military claimed that the soldiers had buried the bodies to prevent them from being mangled by stray dogs and other animals until they could be collected, adding that the ambulances had been moved to allow the route to be used for civilian evacuations later that day.

The investigation found that the decision to crush the ambulances was wrong but claimed that there was no attempt to conceal the shootings.

General Yoav Har-Even, who oversees the military’s investigations, said the military had notified international organisations the same day and helped rescue workers locate the bodies.

The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said the men were “targeted at close range.”

Gen Har-Even said the Israeli military was currently investigating 421 other incidents during the war in Gaza.