Israeli Media Admits to Horrific Crimes by the Zionist Army

Four military personnel from intelligence and air defense units have revealed aspects of the Zionist regime's crimes in the Gaza Strip.

According to Ambassador Arjan's report, Haaretz newspaper quoted four soldiers from the Intelligence Unit and wrote: Many times the commanders of the Israeli army deliberately sought to cause the most human casualties to the people of Gaza.

This Israeli newspaper quoted them and wrote: In one of the cases, they testify that they had warned about harming 300 innocent people, but the Chief of General Staff agreed to the assassination operation and hundreds of people were killed (martyred) as a result of this operation.

In the introduction of this report, it is stated: The Israeli army announces a new attack on the Gaza Strip almost every day. On Sunday, he announced the assassination of a platoon commander in an elite unit last week, and two days ago he announced the death (martyrdom) of a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad elements, and on Thursday he also announced the death (martyrdom) of a number of Hamas commanders.

Al-Af, an intelligence soldier who was in charge of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, says: "The order was: release all field ranks, battalion commanders, company commanders, fighters and hard-line activists." Only the brigade commander up and only the missile platform.

He adds: "We didn't know anything about Hamas and its military branch at the field level. "On October 7, we started almost from scratch to identify the location of the elements and their agents."

"A" is one of four soldiers from the intelligence units and the drone unit who spoke to Haaretz newspaper and described the process they witnessed: a rapid reduction of the criteria for defining "terrorist", a drastic change in the concept of proportionality and the use of heavy weapons, and a significant reduction in the policy that allows the killing of non-intervening civilians - as "collateral damage" to the targets attacked - was put on the agenda.

According to this media, until October 7 (Al-Aqsa storm), the shooting policy of the Israeli army and security forces was (to some extent) subject to the principles of the international law of war, especially the principle of proportionality, along with constant efforts to reduce the harm caused to non-intervening people.

However, the testimonies of the soldiers who were interviewed show a completely different concept of war, where even the smallest objective is considered sufficient to justify harming civilians.

These testimonies suggest that the large number of what the military calls "collateral damage" were not isolated failures or errors in targeting, but rather the result of a policy of deliberate shooting that had been stretched to the limit.

Similar testimonies were presented in the newspaper during the three years of the war. These testimonies, plus the attempt to make up for the intelligence failure of October 7, led to an oversight of civilian casualties that the system had never seen before.

Private D, who had served in the Assault Unit, confirms the earlier remarks when he describes how the parameters and methods of operation changed. "We had always learned that things would be different in war, but we saw that this was a completely different event; Suddenly, the Israeli army attacked even the lowest ranking Hamas soldiers (combatants) at random, as if they had forgotten the concept of saving ammunition. It got to the point where we targeted Hamas drivers."

Testimonies repeatedly show the contradiction between the importance of the target, the severity of the attack and the definite civilian casualties in the surrounding area.

For example, on October 31, 2023, Israeli Air Force fighter jets dropped heavy bombs on a large complex in the Jabaliya refugee camp.

The target of this attack was Ebrahim Bayari, the commander of the central Jabalia battalion affiliated to Hamas. The statement of the spokesman of the Israeli army that evening mentioned that he was one of the commanders of the October 7 attack and managed the battle in the north of the Gaza Strip, and "many elements (fighters) of Hamas" were killed (martyred) along with him in this attack. The IDF spokesman also noted that the hit had caused the collapse of underground infrastructure and nearby buildings, adding that the IDF once again urged residents to move south "for their lives".

But the soldiers who were in the intelligence section of the attack describe it from a completely different angle, as they spoke not only of the target, but also of what they knew in the attack cells before the bombs were dropped.

"We knew Biari was underground, under several large buildings, but we didn't know how to pinpoint the building he was under," D says. Because of this, they selected several buildings that were still inhabited, and it was decided that all the buildings on the tunnel where he was located would be demolished. "We didn't order evacuation because it was important to kill him without him being able to escape."

According to A, who was also involved in the mission, it was clear to the people in the attack cell that the number of innocent people in harm's way was too high, and military intelligence in its calculations of possible collateral damage estimated the number at between 250 and 300, and so the decision was referred to the Chief of Staff for direct approval.

The army, on the other hand, claims that the number of casualties was much lower, but in the end many more were killed.

"A" says that after the attack, a damage assessment was done to check the results on the ground.

"We relied, among other things, on data that came from Hamas, data that we considered fairly reasonable, even if it wasn't 100 percent accurate, and over time we realized that the death toll was approaching 250," he says. I remember being stunned when I saw that many populated buildings were destroyed and hundreds of people were killed and wounded, just to kill a battalion commander who was not even considered as a target for us to gather information until a few weeks ago.

"We cannot allow 300 civilians to be killed for the assassination of a battalion commander [referring to the Bayari assassination], or 20 civilians to be killed for every truck driver in Hamas, and then publicly claim that we did everything we could to prevent innocents from being harmed," said Nadaf Weiman, CEO of Breaking the Silence, to whom some of the soldiers interviewed in the article gave their testimonies. "It's time for the designers of these orders to take responsibility instead of trying to victimize the soldiers who told the public the truth about how we fought."

"D" talks about the immense pressure emanating from the battlefield. At the time, Biari was commanding forces fighting IDF soldiers, and targeting him was considered a security emergency, he said. "We have not been able to get any information that pinpoints his exact location," he said. They told us, 'He's killing soldiers now, we have to attack him,' motivated by protecting the troops on the ground, and eventually the target was confirmed," he adds, adding, "They really wanted to kill this guy." According to him, the question of whether there is an operational justification for targeting a Hamas commander under the pretext of targeting so many non-intervening people in this particular incident was not raised.