Occupied Jerusalem- The Israeli army officers and soldiers reported that they had deliberately received orders to fire on Palestinian civilians, near the humanitarian aid distribution sites in Gaza StripDuring the last month, in order to remove them or disperse them despite the leaders of the leaders that these civilians do not pose any danger.
The testimonies of soldiers and officers indicate B.Israeli army To a systematic repressive policy in which artillery, snipers, and shells are used on civilian crowds looking for food, which resulted in more than 500 martyrs and thousands of wounded in a few weeks.
According to “Haaretz”, it is – far from any talk about individual errors – the image of deliberate operations to starve the Palestinian displaced people in the Strip and terrorize them is highlighted, which elevates a described war crime that is being justified under the pretext of “controlling the regime” and formal investigations.
This policy – according to the testimonies of the soldiers and the officers themselves – transformed the aid distribution area into a mass killing arena, aimed at deterring the Palestinians just because they try to get food.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, 549 people were killed since May 27, near the relief centers or in waiting places for the food trucks ofFor the United NationsAnd more than 4000 people were wounded, as it was difficult to determine the exact number of victims at the Israeli army fire.
Formation
The testimonies of the soldiers and officers reveal explicit orders to shoot at a star of a mastery of relief centers, despite the absence of any danger, and this came as part of the investigation prepared by Nir Hassoun, Yanif Kubovic and Barrig, to the Haaretz newspaper, as they quoted the soldiers described by the situation as “a complete loss of weapons in Gaza.”
In an attempt by the Israeli authorities to disavow responsibility and avoid judicial prosecution in international forums and courts, the Military Prosecutor’s Office instructed the investigation mechanism of the General Staff to open an investigation into suspicions of committing war crimes in these areas.
The newspaper says that “what is happening is not slipping or wrong, but rather a systematic policy of terrorism and starvation of an entire people, in a blatant war crime that covers the pretexts and formal investigations,” and described the investigation procedures as “a formal step aimed at essentially to absorb international criticism without providing any real accountability.”
According to the newspaper’s monitoring, the number of Palestinian civilian dead increased near the distribution centers in the past weeks. In June, 57 people were killed on the 11th day, 59 in the 17th day, and about 50 on the 24th day, compared to 27 dead per day in the first week of the same month.
In a procedure described by the newspaper as “Al -formi”, the Israeli army’s southern leadership held a discussion of artillery launching civil gatherings, and according to the source of the meeting, “they talked about artillery as if it were a natural choice, without asking anyone why we use this tool at all against civilians.”
The newspaper quoted a senior Israeli army officer, that “the normalization of the killing of civilians” led to these horrific results, asking, “Why does someone who comes to take a rice bag? Should he be bombed with artillery?”
Because of these testimonies, the Military Prosecutor’s Office ordered an investigation into some incidents, and legal officials explained that the claim that they are individual cases in reality, “We are not talking about a few injuries, but about dozens of dead and wounded daily due to artillery shells, mortar and hand bombs,” they said.
However, military investigations remain few and formal compared to the number of accidents, and the southern leadership is often satisfied with taking the testimonies of the field leaders without imposing any disciplinary sanctions.
Mysterious background
The aid complexes supervised by the Fund are workingGaza Humanitarian Corporation“For nearly five weeks, thousands or tens of thousands of Palestinians meet daily to obtain food, but the distribution is not organized, but rather turns into a collective crowding over food boxes.
The circumstances of the establishment of this fund and its financing are completely unclear, but it is known that it was founded by an Israeli initiative in cooperation with groups Evangelical In the United States and private security companies.
The centers are guarding the Israeli army, and the Foundation is headed Donald TrumpAnd the Prime Minister bNiarin NetanyahuRequired toFor the International Criminal Court On charges of war crimes in Gaza.
The Foundation runs four food distribution centers in Gaza, three in the south and one in the center, in which American and Palestinian employees work. As for the Israeli army, these sites are guarded from long distances up to hundreds of meters, according to the newspaper.
The newspaper counted 19 shooting incidents in the vicinity of these warehouses since its inception, and although the identity of the shooters is not always clear, the Israeli army controls the area and does not allow the movement of militants in it without its knowledge.
Randomness
The warehouses usually open at one o’clock in the morning, and the testimonies of the soldiers and officers indicate that the Israeli army shoots those who approach the site to disperse them, whether before or after this date, although they are civilians and trapped people, and they also confirmed that in some cases the shooting was at night towards non -lit areas, which made civilians mistake in estimating the permissible limits.
In his testimony to the newspaper, a soldier described the situation, “It is a killing and a death field, where he was killed by the location in which it was found between a person and five per day, we were shooting them as if it were a attacking force, heavy machine guns, hand grenades, mortar shells, without using any means to disperse gatherings or tear gas.”
He explained that the shooting only stops when the distribution centers open, so that the residents know that they can approach, adding, “We are communicating with them through fire.”
He added, “The shooting is also shot on the site from hundreds of meters, and sometimes from close distances, although there is no danger to us, I have not seen any shooting from the other side or any weapons, there is no enemy or weapon,” noting that what the Israeli army is doing in these areas as a “military operation”, referring to the salted fish meal known in the Gaza Strip.
He pointed out that the forces are shooting at night to warn the residents against approaching as a “fighting zone”, explaining that when the mortar bombing, people begin to approach, and the shooting is resumed to prevent them, which sometimes led to shells of civilians.
He also pointed out that the population often does not know the dates of opening centers, which causes chaos, and said, “In some cases, the center was announced at noon, so people came in the early morning, and the distribution was completely canceled.”
Collusion
According to the testimonies of the soldiers, “it was supposed to maintain safe distances between the armed forces and the Palestinian civilians, but what is happening on the ground is that the military operations interfere with the activities of the contracting companies, which receive funds in exchange for the destruction of buildings in Gaza.”
“The contractor gets 5,000 shekels (1430 dollars) for every house that destroys him, and to protect him, we approach the aid distribution areas, and when people approach, shooting and victims occur,” one of the soldiers told the newspaper.
In these testimonies, the name of Brigadier General Judea Fakh, the commander of the 252nd Division, who had previously been accused of endangering the soldiers and destroying a hospital in Gaza, said officers in their testimony, that Fakh was the one who adopted the policy of dispersing civilians waiting for United Nations trucks at fire.
A reserve armored soldier also affirmed orders to “remove” civilians to target them with fire, explaining that “those who wait for the trucks sometimes hide and overlook them, but they do not pose a real danger, and despite this, the firing of shells has become a routine procedure, in which deaths and injuries fall every time.”
One of the officers in his testimony explained to the newspaper that he is around the aid distribution centers in consecutive security episodes, inside Palestinian organizers, some of whom are armed and follow a militia.Abu Youth“The local supported by Israel, while the Israeli army undertakes the external link using tanks, snipers and mortar shells, claiming to protect the region and facilitate the distribution of aid.
Other testimonies of soldiers and officers indicated that some of the dead were actually landed by the fire of “Abu Al -Shabab” groups, and an officer said, “There are areas that you do not enter. agitation These groups are controlled, and the army encourages and supports them.