MIDEAST/FILE: Israeli soldiers describe use of Palestinian civilians as human shields during Gaza war

Record ID: 785011

  • Title: MIDEAST/FILE: Israeli soldiers describe use of Palestinian civilians as human shields during Gaza war
  • Date: 16th July 2009
  • Summary: MAN RUNNING, CARRYING CHILD
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA75144Z4Z5DWO1P4H9VL4X7GU5
  • Story Text: Some Israeli soldiers who took part in the Israeli offensive "Cast Lead" in the Gaza Strip at the beginning of 2009 say they were urged by commanders to "shoot first and worry later" about sorting out civilians from combatants, a group which collects soldiers testimonies said on Wednesday (July 15).
    The Israeli army's imperative, these soldiers say in print and video testimonies released by "Breaking the Silence", a group which collects testimonies of soldiers who served in the occupied Palestinian territories, was to minimise its own casualties at all costs in order to ensure Israeli public backing for the operation.
    "At any obstacle, any problem, we open fire and don't ask questions. Even if it's firing in the dark, firing aimed at unknown target, firing when we don't see, deterrent fire, no problem with that, etc. A vehicle that's in the way - crush it, a building in the way - shoot at it. This was the spirit which was repeated throughout the training", said Amir, a reserve sergeant in the Israeli armoured corps, in a typical description of his understanding of instructions repeated at pre-invasion briefings and during the 22-day operation, from December 27 to January 18.
    Asked if in briefings no one mentioned the issue of innocent civilians, Amir answered "it is not mentioned. It is not mentioned. And if it is mentioned, it is only in the context that there are no innocents, because every one there is an enemy".
    Israel's Operation Cast Lead had the declared aim of forcing Islamist Hamas fighters to stop firing rockets at Israeli towns.
    A Palestinian rights group says 1,417 people were killed, 926 of them civilians. The Israeli army put the death toll at 1,166 and estimated 295 were civilians. Israel says 10 of its soldiers and three civilians were killed.
    Whole streets in parts of the Gaza Strip were razed to minimise the risk of Israeli casualties from small-arms attacks and booby-trap bombs. The United Nations says Gaza six months later is just beginning to clear 600,000 tonnes of rubble.
    Soldiers in Israel's largely conscript army have standing orders not to talk to the media. Despite that, the 112-page document includes testimonies of 30 soldiers "who served in all sectors of the operation", the group says. "The majority ... are still serving in their regular military units and turned to us in deep distress at the moral deterioration of the IDF (Israel Defence Force)." Their narratives "are enough to bring into question the credibility of the official IDF versions", the report says.
    Apart from sergeant Amir, the soldiers are anonymous and their faces digitally blurred. Transcribed statements can be viewed at www.breakingthesilence.org.il, which receives funds from Israeli human rights groups plus the governments of the UK, the Netherlands and Spain, and from the European Union.
    Statements describe the 'Neighbour Procedure' which forced Palestinians to enter suspect buildings to persuade any fighters to surrender, and their use as human shields, advancing with a soldier's rifle resting on their shoulder.
    "The neighbourhood was not fully inhabited, but a few (Palestinian civilians) stayed and some of them regularly joined the troops, they were taken around all day. They would enter houses first, they called to the people inside to come out, told everyone to come out. If there were people who refused to come out, armed people, the civilian who entered (the house) came out and reported this to the troops," said an unidentified infantry soldier.
    "Situations like cases where the force instructed civilians who were with it to break walls with a 5 kilo hammer in order to enter a house bypassing potential explosive charges. Civilians were simply instructed to break walls. And in some cases there was actually entrance with the civilian, who would walk in front of the soldier while the soldier places his gun barrel on the civilian's shoulder," he added.
    The report repeats charges -- denied by Israel --- that white phosphorus was fired indiscriminately into Gaza streets.
    In order to remove all cover for Hamas fighters, aerial bombardment, artillery and finally armoured bulldozers razed whole districts including gardens, olive and orange groves.
    "It was clear we were there for a short term and the rationale was our will to leave a sterile area behind us. And the best way to do that is by razing it. That's the meaning of demolition for 'the day after'. In practical terms, it means to take a house, which is not suspected, it's only transgression is that it stands on a hill in Gaza," said another infantry soldier. The same soldier reported that in a personal conversation with his battalion commander about the issue, he was told that this is another thing to add to his list of "war crimes".
    "Breaking the Silence" says that the most troublesome thing in "Cast Lead" was the Israeli army's concept regarding Palestinian casualties.
    "I think one of the most disturbing things in 'Cast Lead' was the big concept of going in full force, like a war, without putting our troops in danger. Ok? The concept of we don't put our troops in danger, we don't take any risks, we prefer the mistakes to be on their body count than on ours. These are actual sentences that were said by battalion officers, by company officers, in the briefings that soldiers received before they went into Gaza," Yehuda Shaul, a member of the group, told Reuters television.
    The Israeli military rejected the criticism as "based on hearsay", and in its turn criticised the methodology of the report.
    "The IDF Spokesperson Unit regrets the fact that yet another human rights organization is presenting to Israel and the world a report based on anonymous and general testimonies, without fully investigating their details or credibility. Furthermore, this organization denied the IDF the minimal decency, of presenting the report to the IDF and allowing it to investigate the testimonies prior to the report's publication," Israeli army spokesperson Avital Leibovitch told Reuters television. The army spokesperson also pledged in a statement to investigate any formal complaints of misconduct, saying its troops had respected international law under "complex and difficult fighting."
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