Gaza (UNA/WAFA) – Four soldiers in the Israeli military intelligence division admitted to receiving orders to drop heavy bombs on populated buildings in the Gaza Strip without evacuating them, resulting in the death and injury of hundreds of civilians..
In testimonies published Monday in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, soldiers revealed a sharp change in the rules of engagement for heavy weapons and standards of proportionality, as well as a relaxation of restrictions on targeting civilians not participating in combat, who are now considered collateral damage in attacks..
One of the soldiers testified: “There was 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-participating civilians as collateral damage to targets.”".
According to the newspaper, the testimonies of the four soldiers reveal a shift in the concept of war, whereby small targets are now seen as justification for harming civilians. It added that the large number of casualties, which the occupation army classifies as “collateral damage,” were not the result of failures or miscalculations, but rather the consequence of a policy that expanded the scope of fire to the maximum extent possible..
Haaretz noted that similar testimonies were published during the three years of the war, pointing out that the attempt to compensate for the intelligence failure on October 7, 2023, led to overlooking unprecedented civilian casualties..
The report addressed the attack carried out by Israeli warplanes on October 31, 2023, using heavy bombs on a large residential compound in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. One of the soldiers involved in the operation was quoted as saying that it was clear to the attack team that the number of untargeted civilians who could be harmed was extremely high..
The soldier added that military intelligence's collateral damage assessments indicated that between 250 and 300 people might be affected, which necessitated transferring the decision to the Chief of Staff for direct approval. He continued that after the attack, and as time passed, it became clear to them that the death toll had reached approximately 250 Palestinian civilians..
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