โIโm bored, so I shootโ: The Israeli armyโs approval of free-for-all violence in Gaza
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>In early June, Al Jazeera aired a series of disturbing videos revealing what it described as โsummary executionsโ: Israeli soldiers shooting dead several Palestinians walking near the coastal road in the Gaza Strip, on three separate occasions. In each case, the Palestinians appeared unarmed and did not pose any imminent threat to the soldiers.
>Such footage is rare, due to the severe constraints faced by journalists in the besieged enclave and the constant danger to their lives. But these executions, which did not appear to have any security rationale, are consistent with the testimonies of six Israeli soldiers who spoke to +972 Magazine and Local Call following their release from active duty in Gaza in recent months. >Corroborating the testimonies of Palestinian eyewitnesses and doctors throughout the war, the soldiers described being authorized to open fire on Palestinians virtually at will, including civilians.
>The six sources โ all except one of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity โ recounted how Israeli soldiers routinely executed Palestinian civilians simply because they entered an area that the military defined as a โno-go zone.โ The testimonies paint a picture of a landscape littered with civilian corpses, which are left to rot or be eaten by stray animals; the army only hides them from view ahead of the arrival of international aid convoys, so that โimages of people in advanced stages of decay donโt come out.โ Two of the soldiers also testified to a systematic policy of setting Palestinian homes on fire after occupying them.
>Several sources described how the ability to shoot without restrictions gave soldiers a way to blow off steam or relieve the dullness of their daily routine. โPeople want to experience the event [fully],โ S., a reservist who served in northern Gaza, recalled. โI personally fired a few bullets for no reason, into the sea or at the sidewalk or an abandoned building. They report it as โnormal fire,โ which is a codename for โIโm bored, so I shoot.'โ
>Since the 1980s, the Israeli military has refused to disclose its open-fire regulations, despite various petitions to the High Court of Justice. According to political sociologist Yagil Levy, since the Second Intifada, โthe army has not given soldiers written rules of engagement,โ leaving much open to the interpretation of soldiers in the field and their commanders. As well as contributing to the killing of over 38,000 Palestinians, sources testified that these lax directives were also partly responsible for the high number of soldiers killed by friendly fire in recent months.
>โThere was total freedom of action,โ said B., another soldier who served in the regular forces in Gaza for months, including in his battalionโs command center. โIf there is [even] a feeling of threat, there is no need to explain โ you just shoot.โ When soldiers see someone approaching, โit is permissible to shoot at their center of mass [their body], not into the air,โ B. continued. โItโs permissible to shoot everyone, a young girl, an old woman.โ
>B. went on to describe an incident in November when soldiers killed several civilians during the evacuation of a school close to the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, which had served as a shelter for displaced Palestinians. The army ordered the evacuees to exit to the left, toward the sea, rather than to the right, where the soldiers were stationed. When a gunfight erupted inside the school, those who veered the wrong way in the ensuing chaos were immediately fired at.
>โThere was intelligence that Hamas wanted to create panic,โ B. said. โA battle started inside; people ran away. Some fled left toward the sea, [but] some ran to the right, including children. Everyone who went to the right was killed โ 15 to 20 people. There was a pile of bodies.โ
โ>People shot as they pleased, with all their mightโ
>B. said that it was difficult to distinguish civilians from combatants in Gaza, claiming that members of Hamas often โwalk around without their weapons.โ But as a result, โevery man between the ages of 16 and 50 is suspected of being a terrorist.โ
>โIt is forbidden to walk around, and everyone who is outside is suspicious,โ B. continued. โIf we see someone in a window looking at us, he is a suspect. You shoot. The [armyโs] perception is that any contact [with the population] endangers the forces, and a situation must be created in which it is forbidden to approach [the soldiers] under any circumstances. [The Palestinians] learned that when we enter, they run away.โ
>Even in seemingly unpopulated or abandoned areas of Gaza, soldiers engaged in extensive shooting in a procedure known as โdemonstrating presence.โ S. testified that his fellow soldiers would โshoot a lot, even for no reason โ anyone who wants to shoot, no matter what the reason, shoots.โ In some cases, he noted, this was โintended to โฆ remove people [from their hiding places] or to demonstrate presence.โ
>M., another reservist who served in the Gaza Strip, explained that such orders would come directly from the commanders of the company or battalion in the field. โWhen there are no [other] IDF forces [in the area] โฆ the shooting is very unrestricted, like crazy. And not just small arms: machine guns, tanks, and mortars.โ
Even in the absence of orders from above, M. testified that soldiers in the field regularly take the law into their own hands. โRegular soldiers, junior officers, battalion commanders โ the junior ranks who want to shoot, they get permission.โ
>S. remembered hearing over the radio about a soldier stationed in a protective compound who shot a Palestinian family walking around nearby. โAt first, they say โfour people.โ It turns into two children plus two adults, and by the end itโs a man, a woman, and two children. You can assemble the picture yourself.โ
>Only one of the soldiers interviewed for this investigation was willing to be identified by name: Yuval Green, a 26-year-old reservist from Jerusalem who served in the 55th Paratroopers Brigade in November and December last year (Green recently signed a letter by 41 reservists declaring their refusal to continue serving in Gaza, following the armyโs invasion of Rafah). โThere were no restrictions on ammunition,โ Green told +972 and Local Call. โPeople were shooting just to relieve the boredom.โ
>Green described an incident that occurred one night during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah in December, when โthe whole battalion opened fire together like fireworks, including tracer ammunition [which generates a bright light]. It made a crazy color, illuminating the sky, and because [Hannukah] is the โfestival of lights,โ it became symbolic.โ
>C., another soldier who served in Gaza, explained that when soldiers heard gunshots, they radioed in to clarify whether there was another Israeli military unit in the area, and if not, they opened fire. โPeople shot as they pleased, with all their might.โ But as C. noted, unrestricted shooting meant that soldiers are often exposed to the huge risk of friendly fire โ which he described as โmore dangerous than Hamas.โ โOn multiple occasions, IDF forces fired in our direction. We didnโt respond, we checked on the radio, and no one was hurt.โ
>At the time of writing, 324 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground invasion began, at least 28 of them by friendly fire according to the army. In Greenโs experience, such incidents were the โmain issueโ endangering soldiersโ lives. โThere was quite a bit [of friendly fire]; it drove me crazy,โ he said.
>For Green, the rules of engagement also demonstrated a deep indifference to the fate of the hostages. โThey told me about a practice of blowing up tunnels, and I thought to myself that if there were hostages [in them], it would kill them.โ After Israeli soldiers in Shujaโiyya killed three hostages waving white flags in December, thinking they were Palestinians, Green said he was angry, but was told โthereโs nothing we can do.โ โ[The commanders] sharpened procedures, saying โYou have to pay attention and be sensitive, but we are in a combat zone, and we have to be alert.โโ
B. confirmed that even after the mishap in Shujaโiyya, which was said to be โcontrary to the ordersโ of the military, the open-fire regulations did not change. โAs for the hostages, we didnโt have a specific directive,โ he recalled. โ[The armyโs top brass] said that after the shooting of the hostages, they briefed [soldiers in the field]. [But] they didnโt talk to us.โ He and the soldiers who were with him heard about the shooting of the hostages only two and a half weeks after the incident, after they left Gaza.
>โIโve heard statements [from other soldiers] that the hostages are dead, they donโt stand a chance, they have to be abandoned,โ Green noted. โ[This] bothered me the most โฆ that they kept saying, โWeโre here for the hostages,โ but it is clear that the war harms the hostages. That was my thought then; today it turned out to be true.โ
>โA building comes down, and the feeling is, โWow, what funโโ
>A., an officer who served in the armyโs Operations Directorate, testified that his brigadeโs operations room โ which coordinates the fighting from outside Gaza, approving targets and preventing friendly fire โ did not receive clear open-fire orders to transmit to soldiers on the ground. โFrom the moment you enter, at no point is there a briefing,โ he said. โWe didnโt receive instructions from higher up to pass on to the soldiers and battalion commanders.โ
>He noted that there were instructions not to shoot along humanitarian routes, but elsewhere, โyou fill in the blanks, in the absence of any other directive. This is the approach: โIf it is forbidden there, then it is permitted here.โโ
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