According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Israeli soldiers intentionally shot at Palestinians who were being “ordered” to aid in Gaza.
According to Haaretz, Israel reportedly ordered an investigation into possible war crimes based on the allegations made by some soldiers on Friday.
The Gaza Government Media Office reported on Thursday that at least 549 Palestinians had been killed and 4, 066 were hurt while waiting for food to be distributed at locations supported by Israel and the United States, according to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Since its establishment in May, the GHF has received a lot of negative feedback.
Unnamed Israeli soldiers were cited in the Haaretz report as saying that Israeli troops were instructed to fire at Palestinians’ crowds and use unnecessary force against those who appeared to be ineffective.
One soldier told Haaretz, “We threw grenades and fired machineguns from tanks.” A group of civilians were hit while moving under the cover of fog once, according to one incident.
Another soldier claimed that between “one and five people were killed every day” while stationed in Gaza.
That soldier said, “It’s a killing field.”
Method of “control”
According to a military statement made available on Telegram, the Israeli army “strongly rejected” the claims in the report. Any claim of a deviation from the law or [military] directives will be thoroughly examined, and appropriate action will be taken. The article’s claims of deliberate fire directed at civilians are not acknowledged in practice, it said.
However, the report was denounced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who called it “blood libel” against the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), according to a statement released by The Times of Israel news outlet.
They claimed that “the IDF operates under difficult circumstances against a terrorist enemy that targets civilians.” “IDF soldiers follow through on their orders to avoid harming innocent civilians,” they say.
The Military Advocate General has instructed the army’s General Staff’s Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism to look into alleged war crimes at these aid sites, according to Haaretz.
Nir Hasson, one of the report’s authors, claimed that the Israeli directive to fire on civilians was intended to “control” the aid seekers.
From West Jerusalem, he said, “You use fire to move people from one point to another, like if you wanted the crowd to run away [from] a place, you shoot them at them,” he said.
Hasson said he would likely hold a position in the army, even though the journalist and his colleagues are unaware of the name of the commander who might have issued a directive.
Despite this practice at these locations, the majority of Israeli soldiers and soldiers still hold the same conviction that the conflict in Gaza is legitimate, according to the journalist.
More and more people are asking themselves whether this war is necessary, as well as what the Gazan population is [paying] for this war, he said.
“A death trap,” that is.
According to the government media office of the enclave, “war crimes” are occurring at Gaza’s GHF aid distribution sites, referring to “the shocking confessions” published by Haaretz.
The statement added that the Israeli occupation army is using heavy machine guns, artillery, and shells against peaceful gatherings waiting for food as additional evidence that it is using a systematic policy of genocide under the false pretense of “relief.”
Hamdah Salhut, a journalist from Amman, Jordan, called the Haaretz report “shocking.”
Salhut claimed that Palestinians have now died at these distribution centers because of “people in Gaza.” Palestinians are left with no choice, according to aid organizations, who have stated that they must either starve themselves or go hungry in the GHF’s distribution centers.
Attacks on aid seekers have only increased since an Israeli blockade was lifted, and the GHF started distributing food at the end of May, and there are four locations where the GHF operates in Gaza, one in the center and three in the south.
In southern Gaza, doctors claimed on Friday that six people had been shot while trying to get food.
Aid organizations, including the UN, have condemned the GHF vehemently for its “weaponization” of crucial items.
In response to a question from Al Jazeera about the Haaretz report, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, “We don’t need a report of that nature to acknowledge that there have been massive violations of international law in Gaza.” At a press conference in New York, he continued, “There must be accountability when there is a violation of international law.”
The GHF’s aid distribution sites were described as “slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid,” according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, which is known by its French initials as MSF.
