No Innocents in Gaza: Israeli Army

By IOL Staff

Israeli soldiers were told to kill first and worry later whom they killed. CAIRO — "Kill first and worry later. All Gazans are your enemies. No innocents." There were some of the directives the Israeli army gave its troops before unleashing its three-week war on the Gaza Strip, an impoverished coastal territory of 1.6 million. "Better hit an innocent than hesitate to target an enemy," one Israeli soldier who took part in the onslaught said in a testimony published by the Breaking the Silence Israeli activist group on Wednesday, July 15, citing the army’s pre-war briefings instructions. "If you're not sure, kill," testified another soldier about the same directive. "In urban warfare, anyone is your enemy. No innocents." More than six months later, the Israeli group published a booklet with 54 anonymous testimonies from 30 soldiers who participated in the war Israel unleashed on December 27. "We Are Creating Bombers": Israelis Shoot Then Ask, Israeli Soldiers Told Palestinian Holocaust Museum The booklet, the first large collection of Israeli testimonies from the war, describes how soldiers were not given any directives on avoiding civilian casualties. "The testimonies expose significant gaps between the official stances of the Israeli military and events on the ground," said the group on its website. The report describes the "systematic demolition" of houses and firing white phosphorous, a controversial weapon that causes chemical burns, in heavily populated areas. One soldier said that his unit had received an order to "ignite" an area. "The way to do that was to actually fire phosphorus shells from above," he recalled. More than 1,400 Gazans, including 437 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians, were killed and 5,450 wounded in three weeks of air, sea and land attacks. The onslaught wrecked havoc on the Gaza infrastructure, leaving nearly 20,000 homes and thousands of other buildings damaged. “Burning Ants” The testimonies revealed the troubling mentality of Israeli soldiers who had no moral restrictions. "You feel like an infantile little kid with a magnifying glass looking at ants, burning them," one of the soldiers testified. "A 20-year-old kid should not have to do these kinds of things to other people." In another testimony, a soldier described how an Israeli sniper killed a Palestinian man in order to mark a "score" with his gun. Other soldiers fired at Gazans’ houses and water tanks out of frustration or boredom. "One guy said he just couldn't finish this operation without killing someone. So he killed someone, apparently some sort of lookout," said one testimony. "I can definitely say [the victim] was not armed. I can definitely say the soldier regarded this as some children's game and was delighted and laughing after this." Breaking the Silence, a group founded by former soldiers whose goal is to reveal to Israeli society the army actions, insists the testimonies prove the immoral way the war was conducted was due to the army's systems and not the individual soldier. "What was proven…is that through the IDF the exception becomes the norm. "This requires a deep and reflective discussion. This is an urgent call to Israel's society and leadership to take a sober look at the foolishness of our policies."