In a television documentary, a group of Israeli soldiers testified about the chaos caused by Israeli forces in Gaza and the collapse of legal standards and restrictions. Where civilians were killed “motivated by the whims of officers.”
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, some of the soldiers who spoke in the documentary “Breaking Rows: Inside Israel’s War,” scheduled to be broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV on Monday evening, stipulated that their identities not be revealed, while others spoke under their real names.
They all pointed to the disappearance of commitment to ethical rules regarding dealing with civilians.
“Daniel,” a tank unit commander in the Israeli army, said: “If you want to shoot without restrictions, you can.”
The soldiers confirmed the Israeli army’s systematic use of human shields, in contradiction to official denials by Tel Aviv. They also provided details of Israeli forces shooting civilians who were running to obtain food aid, at distribution points set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is supported by the United States and Israel.
“Means, Intention, and Ability”
“In basic army training, we all used to repeat the phrase ‘means, intent, ability,’” said Captain Yotam Felke, an armored corps officer, referring to official training guidelines that stipulate that a soldier should only fire if the target has the means, demonstrates intent, and has the ability to inflict harm.
He added: “But in Gaza, there is no such thing as (means, intention, and ability). No soldier ever mentions this phrase. Rather, the suspicions are limited to things, such as: suspicion of walking in a place where walking is not permitted, and a man between 20 and 40 years old.
Another soldier, identified only as “Eli” in the documentary, said: “Neither life nor death is determined by procedures nor by firing regulations; Rather, it is the field commander’s conscience that decides this matter.”
He added: “In such circumstances, determining who is an enemy or a terrorist becomes arbitrary and arbitrary. If they are going too fast, they are suspicious. If they are walking too slowly, they are suspicious. They are plotting something.
If 3 men are walking and one of them is late, this means a military formation; Two for one. That is, it is a military infantry formation.”
“Eli” described an incident in which a senior officer ordered a tank to demolish a building in an area classified as safe for civilians, saying: “There was a man standing on the roof spreading laundry, so the officer decided that he was a field observer.
But he wasn’t a supervisor, he was just hanging out the laundry. “You can clearly see he is spreading the laundry.”
He continued, saying: “The nearest military force was 600-700 meters away. So, if he didn’t have the eyes of an eagle, how could he be a lookout? The tank fired a shell. Half the building collapsed. The result was many deaths and injuries.”
An August analysis of Israeli military intelligence data by The Guardian newspaper showed that 83 percent of those killed in Gaza – according to estimates by Israeli military officials – were civilians.
This is a historical record in modern conflicts, although the Israeli army denied this analysis.
More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, and more are still being killed, despite the ceasefire that began a month ago.
In a written statement, the Israeli army said: “The army remains committed to the rule of law, and continues to act in accordance with its legal and moral obligations, despite the unprecedented operational complexity posed by Hamas’ systematic penetration of civilian infrastructure and its use of civilian sites for military purposes.”
Legitimate goal
Some of the soldiers interviewed in the documentary said that they were influenced by the language of Israeli politicians and religious leaders, who pointed out that after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed, every Palestinian became a “legitimate target.”
A UN panel concluded in September that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
On the issue of intent, the committee pointed to incitement by Israeli leaders, such as President Isaac Herzog, who said shortly after the October 7 attack: “It is an entire nation responsible for the attack.
“This talk about civilians being unaware and uninvolved in what happened is completely untrue.”
Daniel, the commander of the tank unit, says that the letter declaring that there are no innocents in Gaza had leaked into the ranks of the army. He adds: “We hear this all the time, so we start to believe it.”
The documentary also provides evidence that some rabbis in the army have promoted these views.
“One time, a rabbi sat next to me and spent half an hour explaining why we should be like they were on October 7,” Major Nita Kaspin says. We have to take revenge on all of them, including civilians. We must not discriminate, and this is the only way.”
“Everything there is a huge terrorist infrastructure,” Rabbi Avraham Zarbiev, an extremist Jewish cleric who served more than 500 days in Gaza, says in the film.
Zarbiev’s role was not limited to granting religious legitimacy to the mass demolition of Palestinian neighborhoods; Rather, he personally drove military bulldozers, and he credits himself with inventing a tactic that was adopted by the entire Israeli army. Referring to the collective purchase of armored bulldozers.
Zarbiev says in the program: “The Israeli army is investing hundreds of thousands of shekels to destroy the Gaza Strip. “We changed the behavior of an entire army.”
“Mosquito Protocol”
The soldiers who testified in the film also confirm repeated reports throughout the two-year conflict of Palestinian civilians being used as human shields, a practice known informally as the “Mosquito Protocol.”
Daniel explains this matter by saying: “The human shield is sent underground, and he carries an iPhone in his jacket. As he walks through the tunnel, he draws a comprehensive map of it using GPS information.”
He adds: “The leaders saw how this system works. The practice spread like wildfire. After about a week, each unit was running its own mosquito protocol.”
The Israeli army stated in a statement that it “prohibits the use of civilians as human shields, or forcing them in any way to participate in military operations.” These orders were routinely reiterated to the troops throughout the war.
Unarmed civilians were killed at aid distribution sites
The documentary’s makers spoke to a person known only as “Sam,” who worked at food distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and who said he witnessed the killing of unarmed civilians at the hands of the Israeli army.
He described an incident at a distribution site; Where two young men were running to get aid: “I saw two soldiers running after them, before they fell to their knees, and he fired two bullets at the two young men, and they fell immediately.”
He narrated another incident; An Israeli army tank near one of the distribution sites destroyed “an ordinary car… with 4 ordinary people inside.”
According to UN figures, at least 944 Palestinian civilians were killed while seeking aid in the vicinity of relief sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The Foundation and the Israeli army denied targeting civilians seeking food at aid distribution sites.
The Israeli army denied allegations of committing systematic war crimes, insisting that it operates “in accordance with international law, and takes measures to reduce harm to civilians in its operations against (Hamas).”
