Israeli Soldiers: We Received Orders to Drop 'Heavy Bombs' on Civilians in Gaza
Israeli soldiers admit to receiving orders to bomb inhabited buildings in Gaza without evacuating them, while Smotrich requests violating the Supreme Court decision
Translated by Qiyas from النهار — Original source
Occupied Jerusalem – Agencies: Four soldiers from the Israeli military intelligence branch, Aman, admitted to receiving orders to drop “heavy bombs” on inhabited buildings in the Gaza Strip without evacuating them, resulting in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Palestinians. The soldiers gave their testimonies to Haaretz newspaper in a report published yesterday, as Israel continues its genocidal campaign in Gaza since October 2023. The Israeli military repeatedly claims in its statements that it warns residents to evacuate their homes before shelling them, a practice boasted about by Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the soldiers’ testimonies contradict these claims, revealing a complete overhaul of rules of engagement since the start of the war on Gaza, where approximately 2.4 million Palestinians live.
An intelligence soldier, who was responsible for tracking Hamas leaders in Gaza, stated, “We knew nothing about Hamas and its military wing at the field level.” He added, “There was a rapid shift in the criteria for defining a terrorist, a sharp change in the concept of proportionality and the use of heavy weapons, and a significant relaxation of the policy that allowed the killing of non-combatant civilians as collateral damage.”
According to Haaretz, the testimonies of the four soldiers “illustrate a completely different concept of war, where even the smallest target is justified in causing harm to civilians.” The newspaper noted, “The testimonies indicate that the large numbers of what the military calls collateral damage were not failures or errors in targeting, but the result of a policy to maximize the scope of engagement.” It further stated, “Similar testimonies have been presented in Haaretz during the three years of the war, and the attempt to compensate for the intelligence failure on October 7, 2023, led to turning a blind eye to unprecedented civilian casualties.”
The newspaper cited, for example, that on October 31, 2023, Israeli fighter jets dropped heavy bombs on a large residential complex in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. It explained that “the target of the attack was Ibrahim Al-Bayari, commander of the ‘Central’ battalion of Hamas in Jabalia.” One soldier said, “We knew Al-Bayari was underground, beneath large buildings, but we did not know which building.” He added, “So they chose buildings that were still inhabited and decided to demolish all the buildings above the tunnel where he was located. We did not carry out an evacuation operation, because it was important to kill him without letting him escape.”
Meanwhile, Israeli extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to defy the Israeli Supreme Court’s ruling issued on Sunday, which mandated that the Israeli occupation army announce the date for the return of Palestinians displaced from their homes in the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nurbat, in the northern occupied West Bank. Smotrich accused the three judges who issued the ruling of endangering “Israel’s security,” according to his claims.
