'No innocents in Gaza'; Haaretz reports on indiscriminate IOF killings
3 Min Read
Israeli soldiers say division commanders were given expanded authority to bomb buildings and authorize airstrikes without requiring approval from senior military leadership.
-
Israeli soldiers take up positions during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 (AP)
A report published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz about indiscriminate killings carried out by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians in Gaza's Netzarim Corridor angered the Israeli military.
Citing accounts from unnamed Israeli soldiers, career officers, and reservists, Haaretz said commanders in Gaza were granted unprecedented authority, leading to orders or tacit approval for the killing of unarmed women, men, and children in the Netzarim Corridor—a seven-kilometer-wide strip cutting across Gaza, now designated as a military zone.
The newspaper cited an Israeli officer recalling a commander who reportedly claimed that 200 Palestinian fighters were killed in an operation, though only 10 were confirmed as "Hamas operatives".
According to soldiers, orders were issued to fire at "anyone who enters" Netzarim. One soldier quoted a battalion commander as saying, "Anyone crossing the line is a terrorist -- no exceptions, no civilians. Everyone's a terrorist."
Soldiers also said division commanders were given expanded authority to bomb buildings and authorize airstrikes without requiring approval from senior military leadership.
The Israeli occupation military, in a statement to AFP, rejected the details mentioned in the report, claiming that "all activities and operations conducted by (Israeli army) forces in the Gaza Strip, including in the Netzarim Corridor, are carried out in accordance with structured combat procedures, plans and operational orders approved by the highest ranks in the (army)."
It also alleged that any incidents suggesting deviations from ethical standards are thoroughly investigated.
The report also named Brigadier General Yehuda Vach, the head of Division 252, as a commander allegedly driving decisions based on personal political ideologies. Some soldiers quoted by Haaretz indicated that Vach declared, "There are no innocents in Gaza."
The Israeli occupation military dismissed these assertions as "baseless", stating that the statements attributed to Vach "were not made by him."
The soldiers speaking to Haaretz justified their decision to come forward, stressing that the Israeli people "need to know how this war really looks like, and what serious acts some commanders and fighters are committing inside Gaza."
"They need to know the inhuman scenes we're witnessing," they expressed.
On its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas reacted to the Haaretz report by calling it "new evidence of unprecedented war crimes and full-fledged ethnic cleansing operations, carried out in an organised manner."
The Palestinian group also urged the United Nations and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to "document these testimonies and take the necessary steps to stop the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip."
Read more: US rejects HRW's genocide accusations against 'Israel'
