OMM Redaksiyası
Four Israeli military intelligence soldiers said they were instructed to use heavy bombs against inhabited buildings in the Gaza Strip without first evacuating residents, in strikes that killed and wounded large numbers of Palestinians, according to testimony reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Monday.
The soldiers described changes to targeting rules after the war began in October 2023, including wider criteria for selecting targets and greater tolerance for civilian casualties. Their accounts contradict repeated Israeli military claims that civilians are warned to leave before strikes.
One soldier, identified as A, said his unit initially knew little about Hamas members and their locations. He said target criteria were quickly relaxed, along with assessments of proportionality and the use of heavy weapons.
Haaretz said the four accounts pointed to a policy that allowed attacks against relatively minor targets even when civilians were likely to be harmed. The newspaper said the high number of people classified as collateral damage reflected an expansion in the use of firepower, rather than only intelligence failures or mistaken identification.
Among the examples cited was an Israeli airstrike on a residential complex in the Jabalia refugee camp on Oct. 31, 2023. The stated target was Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas battalion commander. Soldier D said the military knew Biari was beneath buildings but did not know which ones, and decided to demolish buildings above the tunnel without evacuating residents in order to prevent him from escaping.
Soldier A, who said he took part in the operation, said military intelligence estimates put the potential civilian toll at 250 to 300, prompting the decision to be referred to the chief of staff for approval. He said that after the strike, soldiers understood that about 250 people had been killed.
The Israeli military said the strike had been planned several times to reduce civilian harm and that the expected number of casualties was not in the hundreds. It said the damage was later found to have exceeded the initial assessment.
Nadav Weiman, executive director of the Israeli organization Breaking the Silence, criticized the conduct of the military, saying civilians should not be killed to target a commander or other Hamas members. He called on those who issued the orders to take responsibility.
Haaretz also reported the soldiers’ account of an Oct. 13, 2023 operation targeting Hamas commander Ali Qadi. Soldier A said Qadi was at home with his family when the attack took place, and that Qadi survived while those killed had no connection to the target.
Soldier B, who served in a drone unit, said the division was permitted to conduct attacks expected to injure up to 20 non-combatants without seeking approval from a senior official outside the targeting cell.
Soldier C said that several months after Israel’s ground offensive began on Oct. 27, 2023, his unit was asked to prepare an entry zone into Gaza City. An intelligence assessment estimated that about a quarter of residents were still in their homes, he said, but personnel were told they were targets for forces on the ground.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The International Court of Justice is hearing a case brought by South Africa and joined by several countries that accuses Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
More than 74,300 Palestinians have been killed and over 175,400 injured in the war since October 2023, according to figures cited in the report. The conflict has left the enclave in ruins.
