Six Israeli soldiers, speaking to +972 Magazine and Local Call after being discharged from active duty in Gaza in recent months, reported instances of executions that lacked any clear "security justification".

Corroborating the accounts of Palestinian eyewitnesses and doctors during the ongoing Israeli genocide, the Israeli soldiers described being authorized to shoot Palestinians indiscriminately.

Of the six sources interviewed by +972 Magazine and Local Call, all but one spoke anonymously. They recounted how Israeli soldiers routinely executed Palestinian civilians for entering areas designated as "no-go zones" by the military.

The testimonies depict a grim scene of civilian bodies scattered across the landscape, often left to decay or be scavenged by animals.

The army reportedly only removes these bodies by a bulldozer before the arrival of international aid convoys to prevent images of advanced decomposition from spreading. Additionally, two soldiers described a systematic policy of setting Palestinian homes on fire before leaving them after their occupation.

‘I’m bored, so I shoot'

Several sources told +972 Magazine and Local Call how the unrestricted ability to shoot allowed soldiers to release pent-up frustration or alleviate boredom.

"People want to fully engage in the event," recalled S., a reservist who served in northern Gaza. "I personally fired a few bullets aimlessly, into the sea or at the sidewalk or an abandoned building. They classify it as 'routine fire,' which is code for 'I'm bored, so I shoot.'"

Since the 1980s, the Israeli military has refused to disclose its rules of engagement for open fire, despite numerous petitions to the High Court of Justice. According to political sociologist Yagil Levy, since the Second Intifada, "the army has not provided soldiers with written rules of engagement," leaving much open to interpretation by soldiers in the field and their commanders. Sources also testified that these loose directives contributed to the killing of over 38,000 Palestinians and a significant number of soldiers killed by friendly fire in recent months.

'It’s permissible to shoot everyone, a young girl, an old woman'

“There was total freedom of action,” B., a soldier who served in the regular forces in Gaza for several months, including at his battalion's command center told +972 Magazine and Local Call. 

“If there is [even] a feeling of threat, there is no need to explain — you just shoot,” he stressed.

When soldiers spot someone approaching, “it is permissible to shoot at their center of mass [their body], not into the air,” B. said. “It’s permissible to shoot everyone, a young girl, an old woman.”

#Palestinian civilians were found dead in a school where they had taken shelter from Israeli strikes, but the Israeli soldiers followed them there and shot them dead, execution style.#Gaza#GazaUnderAttack#Palestine pic.twitter.com/VTp1TLaPNy

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 14, 2023

B. then recounted an incident from November when soldiers fatally shot several civilians during the evacuation of a school near Gaza City's al-Zaytoun neighborhood, which had been used as a shelter for forcibly displaced Palestinians.

“A battle started inside; people ran away. Some fled left toward the sea, [but] some ran to the right, including children. Everyone who went to the right was killed — 15 to 20 people. There was a pile of bodies,” B. detailed.

'Every man between the ages of 16 and 50 is suspected of being a terrorist'

B. told +972 Magazine and Local Call that  “every man between the ages of 16 and 50 is suspected of being a terrorist.”

“It is forbidden to walk around, and everyone who is outside is suspicious,” B. stressed. “If we see someone in a window looking at us, he is a suspect. You shoot. The [army’s] perception is that any contact [with the population] endangers the forces, and a situation must be created in which it is forbidden to approach [the soldiers] under any circumstances. [The Palestinians] learned that when we enter, they run away.”

One can only assume there’s a total collapse of leadership and discipline here. A hugely dangerous state of affairs for any military, especially one at war.

pic.twitter.com/grPYQ1sXcQ

— Charlie Herbert (@Charlie533080) April 6, 2024

S. witnessed that his fellow soldiers would “shoot a lot, even for no reason — anyone who wants to shoot, no matter what the reason, shoots.”

'The shooting is very unrestricted, like crazy'

M., another reservist who served in the Gaza Strip, clarified that such directives would be issued directly by field commanders of the company or battalion.
 
“When there are no [other] IDF forces [in the area] … the shooting is very unrestricted, like crazy. And not just small arms: machine guns, tanks, and mortars,” M. testified.

Even without explicit orders from higher-ups, M. witnessed that soldiers in the field often act independently, taking matters into their own hands.

“Regular soldiers, junior officers, battalion commanders — the junior ranks who want to shoot, they get permission,” M. added.

IOF killing a family of four

S. recalled hearing over the radio about a soldier stationed in a protective compound who fired at a Palestinian family walking nearby.

S. gushed, “At first, they say ‘four people.’ It turns into two children plus two adults, and by the end it’s a man, a woman, and two children. You can assemble the picture yourself.”

Only one of the soldiers interviewed for this investigation agreed to be identified by name: Yuval Green, a 26-year-old reservist who served in the 55th Paratroopers Brigade in November and December of last year.

Green, who recently signed a letter with 41 other reservists declaring their refusal to continue serving in Gaza following the army's invasion of Rafah, told +972 and Local Call, “There were no restrictions on ammunition; people were shooting just to relieve the boredom.”

Green recounted an incident during a Jewish holiday in December when “the whole battalion opened fire together like fireworks, including tracer ammunition [which generates a bright light]. It made a crazy color, illuminating the sky, and because [Hannukah] is the ‘festival of lights,’ it became symbolic.”

Friendly fire is the 'main issue' threatening IOF

In the same context, C. testified that “people shot as they pleased, with all their might,” noting that the lack of restrictions on shooting meant that soldiers were frequently exposed to significant risks of friendly fire.

In Green’s testimony, friendly fire has been the “main issue” threatening soldiers’ lives. “There was quite a bit [of friendly fire]; it drove me crazy,” he stressed. 

'The war harms the hostages'

Related News

German foundation withdraws award from UK artist over support for BDS

ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant over 'war crimes'

For Green, the rules of engagement also showed a profound disregard for the well-being of Israeli captives.

“They told me about a practice of blowing up tunnels, and I thought to myself that if there were hostages [in them], it would kill them,” Green testified.

Green recalled an incident during which three Israeli captives were killed in Gaza by the IOF holding up a white flag.

On this issue, Green told +972 Magazine and Local Call, “I’ve heard statements [from other soldiers] that the hostages are dead, they don’t stand a chance, they have to be abandoned."

“[This] bothered me the most … that they kept saying, ‘We’re here for the hostages,’ but it is clear that the war harms the hostages. That was my thought then; today it turned out to be true.”

'A building comes down, and the feeling is, 'Wow, what fun''

A., an officer who served in the army's Operations Directorate, testified that his brigade's operations room, responsible for coordinating combat activities from outside Gaza, did not receive clear instructions on open-fire orders to relay to soldiers in the field.

“From the moment you enter, at no point is there a briefing,” he said. “We didn’t receive instructions from higher up to pass on to the soldiers and battalion commanders.”

“You fill in the blanks, in the absence of any other directive. This is the approach: ‘If it is forbidden there, then it is permitted here,'" he added.

'Shoot first, ask questions later’

A. detailed that shooting at "hospitals, clinics, schools, religious institutions, [and] buildings of international organizations" required higher authorization. However, in practice, "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," he stressed.

A. added, “The spirit in the operations room was ‘Shoot first, ask questions later.’ That was the consensus … No one will shed a tear if we flatten a house when there was no need, or if we shoot someone who we didn’t have to.” 

🧵Scenes from Israeli soldier Igal showing his 6261st battalion of the 261st Brigade systematically blowing up civilian houses in the eastern parts of Khan Younis as part of a buffer zone -> pic.twitter.com/NockhnYk48

— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) May 16, 2024

A. reported being aware of instances where Israeli soldiers fired at Palestinian civilians who entered "their operational area," corroborating findings from a Haaretz investigation into "kill zones" in Gaza areas under army control.

“This is the default. No civilians are supposed to be in the area, that’s the perspective. We spotted someone in a window, so they fired and killed him,” A. stressed.

Doubt cast on military reports of Hamas casualties

A. added that it was often unclear from the reports whether soldiers had targeted militants or unarmed civilians—and “many times, it sounded like someone was caught up in a situation, and we opened fire.”

However, due to this uncertainty regarding the identity of the victims, A. did not trust military reports concerning the number of Hamas fighters killed.

“The feeling in the war room, and this is a softened version, was that every person we killed, we counted him as a terrorist,” he testified.

“The aim was to count how many [terrorists] we killed today,” A. stressed. “Every [soldier] wants to show that he’s the big guy. The perception was that all the men were terrorists. Sometimes a commander would suddenly ask for numbers, and then the officer of the division would run from brigade to brigade going through the list in the military’s computer system and count.”

'Today’s child [is] tomorrow’s terrorist'

A. observed the irony that some Israelis justified calls for revenge by alleging that Palestinians in Gaza celebrated the death and destruction on October 7, as the Israeli soldiers justified their killing by using phrases such as: "They handed out sweets," "They danced after October 7," or "They elected Hamas."

"Not everyone, but also quite a few, thought that today’s child [is] tomorrow’s terrorist."

This belief was used to justify disregarding the distinction between civilians and combatants.

It is worth noting that Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, on Sunday, that during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) routinely used a command that allowed soldiers to murder their own soldiers, namely the infamous Hannibal Directive.

The Israeli Air Force targeted at least three military facilities and outposts during the operation, and the IOF opened fire on the separation barrier dividing Gaza and the occupied territories when Israelis were being taken captive. According to a source in the Israeli Southern Command, the region was designed to become a "killing zone", while another commanded that "not a single vehicle can return to Gaza." These instructions are known as the "Hannibal Directive", requiring the IOF to take all measures to avoid the capture of Israeli soldiers, including murdering them.

“I, too, a rather left-wing soldier, forget very quickly that these are real homes [in Gaza],” A. said.

“It felt like a computer game. Only after two weeks did I realize that these are [actual] buildings that are falling: if there are inhabitants [inside], then [the buildings are collapsing] on their heads, and even if not, then with everything inside them,” he added.

'So, you occasionally see dogs walking around with rotting body parts'

Multiple soldiers testified that the lenient shooting policy has allowed Israeli units to kill Palestinian civilians, even when their civilian status is known beforehand.

D., a reservist, mentioned that his brigade was positioned near two designated "humanitarian" travel corridors in Gaza: one for aid organizations and another for civilians moving from North to South within the Strip.

Within its operational area, the brigade implemented a policy known as "red line, green line," marking zones where civilians were prohibited from entering.
 
"Anyone who crossed into the green area would become a potential target,” D. said.

“If they [civilians] cross the red line, you report it on the radio and you don’t need to wait for permission, you can shoot,” he stressed.

In Gaza, soldiers recounted incidents where civilians, often desperate refugees scavenging for food from aid convoys, risked being shot if they approached. Despite acknowledging their desperation and lack of resources, soldiers cited frequent incidents where individuals, whether innocent civilians or suspected scouts for Hamas, were shot by their battalion. The aftermath left numerous Palestinian civilian bodies strewn across roads and open areas throughout Gaza.

“The whole area was full of bodies,” said S., a reservist. “There are also dogs, cows, and horses that survived the bombings and have nowhere to go. We can’t feed them, and we don’t want them to get too close either. So, you occasionally see dogs walking around with rotting body parts. There is a horrific smell of death.”

'A D-9 [Caterpillar bulldozer] clears the area of corpses'

S. pointed out that before humanitarian convoys arrived, the bodies were cleared or removed from the area by bulldozers.
 
“A D-9 [Caterpillar 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,” he testified. 

“I saw a lot of [Palestinian] civilians – families, women, children,” S. continued. “There are more fatalities than are reported. We were in a small area. Every day, at least one or two [civilians] are killed [because] they walked in a no-go area. I don’t know who is a terrorist and who is not, but most of them did not carry weapons.”

“We saw some indistinct mass outside a house. We realized it was a body; we saw a leg. At night, cats ate it. Then someone came and moved it,” he detailed.

‘Before you leave, you burn down the house’

Two soldiers testified that burning Palestinian homes has become routine among Israeli troops, a practice extensively detailed by Haaretz earlier this year.

Green personally witnessed two incidents: one initiated independently by a soldier and another carried out under commanders' instructions. 

"If you move, you have to burn down the house,” he tersely stated.

“I asked the company commander, who said that no military equipment [could be] left behind, and that we did not want the enemy to see our fighting methods,” Green added. “I said I would do a search [to make sure] there was no [evidence of] combat methods left behind. [The company commander] gave me explanations from the world of revenge. He said they were burning them because there were no D-9s or IEDs from an engineering corp [that could destroy the house by other means]. He received an order and it didn’t bother him.” 

“Before you leave, you burn down the house — every house,” B. reaffirmed. “This is backed up at the battalion commander level.”

Green went on to say, “You draw on the walls, rude things. Playing with clothes, finding passport photos they left, hanging a picture of someone because it’s funny. We used everything we found: mattresses, food, one found a NIS 100 bill [around $27] and took it.”

Archiving on this platform:

Israeli soldiers torching homes in Gaza city. pic.twitter.com/63Q8GDXXhs

— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) June 1, 2024

“We destroyed everything we wanted to,” Green testified. “This is not out of a desire to destroy, but out of 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.”

It's a familiar story: Israeli soldiers are confessing to shooting to kill and reducing everything to rubble. This time, amid ongoing genocide—the gravest of crimes—the atrocities are unfolding live and unabated.

This extreme cruelty precisely meets the definition of genocide with intent, illustrating why ignoring it is not just impractical but absurd. It highlights the profound challenge of genocide denialism that persists globally. This impunity allows the killing of Palestinians to continue, as evidenced by Israeli soldiers boasting about it and documenting their actions on social media—insolently motivated by boredom.