https://sputnikglobe.com/20240709/idf-soldiers-detail-policies-of-shooting-civilians-destroying-homes-1119303859.html
IDF Soldiers Detail Policies of Shooting Civilians, Destroying Homes - Report
IDF Soldiers Detail Policies of Shooting Civilians, Destroying Homes - Report
Sputnik International
An article from +972 Magazine includes interviews with IDF soldiers who say that shooting civilians and burning Palestinian homes was part of IDF policy.
2024-07-09T03:10+0000
2024-07-09T03:10+0000
2024-07-09T03:13+0000
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The interviewees also alleged that the bodies of Palestinian civilians were allowed to rot in the street and were only hidden by the IDF before international organizations traveled through the area.One soldier testified that soldiers often would fire indiscriminately to blow off steam during the operation. “They report it as ‘normal fire,’ which is a codename for ‘I’m bored, so I shoot.”Another soldier said there was “total freedom of action,” for the IDF in Gaza. “If there is [even] a feeling of threat, there is no need to explain – you just shoot,” the soldier described. “It is permissible to shoot at their center mass, not into the air. It’s permissible to shoot everyone, a young girl, an old woman.”The soldiers also described a policy of the IDF that would designate certain areas as “no-go zones,” where any Palestinian entering would be shot. Some of those areas allowed international aid trucks to travel through, but any civilians trying to follow them would be shot.“This is the default. No civilians are supposed to be in the area, that’s the perspective,” one soldier explained. “We spotted someone in a window, so they fired and killed him.”As the bodies piled up, the IDF left them to rot, one soldier says, only removing them before international organizations arrived in the area.“The feeling in the war room, and this is the softened version, was that every person we killed, we counted him as a terrorist,” A soldier said, adding that while certain sensitive targets, like schools, hospitals, religious institutions and buildings of international organizations required higher authorization, it was almost always granted.“I can count on one hand the cases where we were told not to shoot. Even with sensitive things like schools, [approval] feels like only a formality.”One soldier, Yuval Green, a 26-year-old reservist who was one of 41 IDF reservists who signed a letter declaring their refusal to continue serving in Gaza, was willing to go on the record with +972. He and another anonymous soldier described a policy of torching Palestinian homes after the IDF used them.“If you move, you have to burn down the house,” Green said. Another soldier backed Green’s account and said orders to burn homes came from higher-ups in the IDF. “Before you leave, you burn down the house – every house,” The soldier said. “This is backed up at the battalion commander level. It’s so that [Palestinians] won’t be able to return, and if we left behind any ammunition or food, the terrorists won’t be able to use it.”According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 38,200. However, a report in the British medical journal Lancet estimated that the actual death toll could be over 186,000, roughly 8% of Gaza’s population.
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idf policies, civilians targeted in gaza, israeli war crimes, idf policy to protect civilians, israel protects civilians
idf policies, civilians targeted in gaza, israeli war crimes, idf policy to protect civilians, israel protects civilians
IDF Soldiers Detail Policies of Shooting Civilians, Destroying Homes - Report
03:10 GMT 09.07.2024 (Updated: 03:13 GMT 09.07.2024) On Monday, Independent media outlet +972 Magazine released a report detailing interviews the outlet did with Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, which describe a policy that allowed soldiers to virtually fire at will and required soldiers to burn the homes of Palestinians that they occupied.
The interviewees also alleged that the bodies of Palestinian civilians were allowed to rot in the street and were only hidden by the IDF before international organizations traveled through the area.
One soldier
testified that soldiers often would fire indiscriminately to blow off steam during the operation.
“They report it as ‘normal fire,’ which is a codename for ‘I’m bored, so I shoot.”Another soldier said there was “total freedom of action,” for the IDF in Gaza. “If there is [even] a feeling of threat, there is no need to explain – you just shoot,” the soldier described. “It is permissible to shoot at their center mass, not into the air. It’s permissible to shoot everyone, a young girl, an old woman.”
That same soldier claimed that “every man between the ages of 16 and 50 is suspected of being a terrorist.”
The soldiers also described a policy of the IDF that would designate certain areas as “no-go zones,” where any Palestinian entering would be shot. Some of those areas allowed international aid trucks to travel through, but any civilians trying to follow them would be shot.
“This is the default. No civilians are supposed to be in the area, that’s the perspective,” one soldier explained. “We spotted someone in a window, so they fired and killed him.”
As the bodies piled up, the IDF left them to rot, one soldier says, only removing them before international organizations arrived in the area.
“The whole area was full of bodies,” he said, continuing later that “A D-9 [bulldozer] goes down, with a tank, and clears the area of corpses, buries them under the rubble, and flips [them] aside so that the convoys don’t see it – [so that] images of people in advanced stages of decay don’t come out.”
“The feeling in the war room, and this is the softened version, was that every person we killed, we counted him as a terrorist,” A soldier said, adding that while certain sensitive targets, like schools, hospitals, religious institutions and buildings of international organizations required higher authorization, it was almost always granted.
“I can count on one hand the cases where we were told not to shoot. Even with sensitive things like schools, [approval] feels like only a formality.”
One soldier, Yuval Green, a 26-year-old reservist who was one of 41 IDF reservists who signed a letter declaring their refusal to continue serving in Gaza, was willing to go on the record with +972. He and another anonymous soldier described a policy of torching Palestinian homes after the IDF used them.
“If you move, you have to burn down the house,” Green said. Another soldier backed Green’s account and said orders to burn homes came from higher-ups in the IDF. “Before you leave, you burn down the house – every house,” The soldier said. “This is backed up at the battalion commander level. It’s so that [Palestinians] won’t be able to return, and if we left behind any ammunition or food, the terrorists won’t be able to use it.”
“We destroyed everything we wanted to,” Green said. “This is not out of a desire to destroy, but a total indifference to everything that belongs to [Palestinians]. Every day, a D-9 demolishes houses. I haven’t taken before-and-after photos, but I’ll never forget how a neighborhood that was really beautiful… is reduced to sand.”
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 38,200. However, a report in the British medical journal Lancet estimated that the actual death toll could be over 186,000, roughly 8% of Gaza’s population.
