Israeli soldiers cast doubt on legality of Gaza military tactics

[Lamar]

[quote]They include allegations that Israeli ground troops were briefed to regard everything inside Gaza as a “threat” and they should “not spare ammo”, and that tanks fired randomly or for revenge on buildings without knowing whether they were legitimate military targets or contained civilians.

In their testimonies, soldiers depict rules of engagement they characterised as permissive, “lax” or largely non-existent, including how some soldiers were instructed to treat anyone seen looking towards their positions as “scouts” to be fired on.
[/quote]

[quote]In at least one instance described by soldiers, being female did not help two women who were killed because one had a mobile phone. A soldier described the incident: “After the commander told the tank commander to go scan that place, and three tanks went to check [the bodies] ... it was two women, over the age of 30 ... unarmed. They were listed as terrorists. They were fired at. So of course they must have been terrorists.”[/quote]

[quote]One sergeant who served in a tank in the centre of the Gaza Strip recalls: “A week or two after we entered the Gaza Strip and we were all firing a lot when there wasn’t any need for it – just for the sake of firing – a member of our company was killed.[/quote]
[quote]If the rules of engagement were highly permissive, other soldiers say that they also detected a darker mood in their units that further coloured the way that soldiers behaved. “The motto guiding lots of people was: ‘Let’s show them,’ recalls a lieutenant who served in the Givati Brigade in Rafah. “It was evident that was a starting point. Lots of guys who did their reserve duty with me don’t have much pity towards [the Palestinians].”

He added: “There were a lot of people there who really hate Arabs. Really, really hate Arabs. You could see the hate in their eyes.”[/quote]
[url]http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/04/israeli-soldiers-cast-doubt-on-legality-of-gaza-military-operation[/url]

[Dostoyevsky]

[QUOTE]“Even then,” explains Shaul, “we have a testimony we took that a senior brigade commander issued order how to get around that, instructing that the unit fired first outside of the protected area and then calling for correction fire on to the location that they wanted to hit.

“He said: “If you go on the radio and ask to hit this building, we have to say no. But if you give a target 200 metres outside then you can ask for correction. Only thing that is recorded is the first target not the correction fire.”[/QUOTE]

This is interesting

[ScumBunny]

[QUOTE=Dostoyevsky;47659394]This is interesting[/QUOTE]

Small note.
My little brother is the director of research and testimony collection in [URL="http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/"]Breaking the Silence[/URL].
I have very good faith in the trueness of the testimonies they collect, and I know for a fact that they cross check everything to make sure they don't publish [URL="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/MK-Oren-Hazan-accused-of-lying-to-Breaking-the-Silence-396048"]false information[/URL].

[Dostoyevsky]

[QUOTE=ScumBunny;47662054]Small note.
My little brother is the director of research and testimony collection in [URL="http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/"]Breaking the Silence[/URL].
I have very good faith in the trueness of the testimonies they collect, and I know for a fact that they cross check everything to make sure they don't publish [URL="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/MK-Oren-Hazan-accused-of-lying-to-Breaking-the-Silence-396048"]false information[/URL].[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the confirmation.

Another note, I was writing the previous post / quote on mobile. It seems I forgot to include this part:
[QUOTE]Ahead of the conflict – in which 34,000 shells were fired into Gaza, 19,000 of them explosive – artillery and air liaison officers had been supplied with a list of sensitive sites to which fire was not to be directed within clear limits of distance. These included hospitals and UN schools being used as refugee centres, even in areas where evacuation had been ordered.

“Even then,” explains Shaul, .......[/QUOTE]

Also this is pretty important before one runs around swearing and cursing:

[QUOTE]Sfard added: “We are not talking about a [deliberate] decision to kill civilians. But to say the rules of engagement were lax gives them too much credit. They allowed engagement in almost any circumstances, unless there was a felt to be a risk to an IDF soldier.”
[/QUOTE]