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Stealing, burning houses: Reservists recount Israeli conduct in Gaza
Three Israeli reserve soldiers, Yuval Green, Tal Vardi and Michael Ofer Ziv, who fought in Gaza have told Britain’s The Observer newspaper why they no longer want to be part of the army.
Green, who spent 50 days in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis earlier this year with his paratrooper unit, said he saw “soldiers graffitiing houses or stealing all the time. They would go into a house for a military reason, looking for weapons, but it was more fun to look for souvenirs. They had a thing for necklaces with Arabic writing that they collected”.
Then, early this year: “We were given an order. We were inside a house and our commander ordered us to burn it down.”
Civics teacher Vardi, who trained reserve tank operators in northern Israel, told the newspaper he “can’t justify this military operation any more”.
“Any reasonable person can see that the military presence is not helping to bring the hostages back. If anything, some of these operations have endangered the hostages, and the army has also killed some by mistake,” he said, pointing to an incident last December when Israeli forces shot dead three captives in Gaza who approached them waving white flags.
“It was bound to happen,” said reservist Ziv, who said the incident provoked in him a powerful sense that once he finished his service he wouldn’t return.
Qassam Brigades attacks Israeli troops in central, northern Gaza
The armed wing of Hamas says its fighters targeted an Israeli command centre in the so-called Netzarim Corridor with short-range rockets.
The Netzarim Corridor, named after a Jewish settlement in Gaza that was dismantled in 2005, was set up during the war by the Israeli army to separate northern Gaza from the south.
In a separate statement, the group said it attacked “enemy forces” penetrating the vicinity of University College in southern Gaza City with mortar fire.
Al-Quds Brigades claims attack on military site in southern Israel
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) says its fighters struck an Israeli military site in the Nahal Oz settlement with a barrage of heavy mortar shells.
It also said on Telegram that it bombed targets around the Israeli city of Sderot with a barrage of rockets.
