Israeli soldiers in Gaza compete to see who can kill the most number of Palestinians: Report
Israeli soldiers who fought in Gaza have told the Haaretz newspaper that the country’s military has designated the Netzarim Corridor, which cuts the Strip in two, as a “kill zone”.
“The forces in the field call it ‘the line of dead bodies’,” a commander from Division 252 told Haaretz.
“After shootings, bodies are not collected, attracting packs of dogs who come to eat them. In Gaza, people know that wherever you see these dogs, that’s where you must not go.”
The unnamed soldiers who spoke to Haaretz said that the orders to kill anyone who enters the area applies to civilians, including children, and that soldiers compete to see who can shoot and kill the most number of Palestinians.
“We’re killing civilians there who are then counted as terrorists,” one recently discharged officer from Division 252 told Haaretz.
“The [Israeli army’s] spokesperson’s announcements about casualty numbers have turned this into a competition between units,” he said. “If Division 99 kills 150 [people], the next unit aims for 200.”
The stretch of land known as the Netzarim Corridor is a six-kilometre-long (four-mile) road just south of Gaza City running east to west from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea.
A satellite image shows the Netzarim Corridor, an area of central Gaza razed by the Israeli military on August 20
Israeli soldier recounts shooting, killing 16-year-old Palestinian boy
More from the Haaretz report on Israeli abuses in the so-called Netzarim Corridor in Gaza.
One veteran soldier from Division 252 who spoke to the Israeli newspaper recalled how troops killed a 16-year-old boy.
“One time, guards spotted someone approaching from the south. We responded as if it was a large militant raid. We took positions and just opened fire. I’m talking about dozens of bullets, maybe more. For about a minute or two, we just kept shooting at the body. People around me were shooting and laughing,” the soldier was quoted as saying.
“We approached the blood-covered body, photographed it, and took the phone. He was just a boy, maybe 16.”
An intelligence officer collected the items, and hours later, the Israeli soldiers learned the boy was not a Hamas operative, but a civilian.
“That evening, our battalion commander congratulated us for killing a terrorist, saying he hoped we’d kill ten more tomorrow,” the soldier added.
Another officer from Division 252 told Haaretz that the vast majority of those killed are, in fact, civilians.
He referred to one incident when the Israeli military announced the killing of more than 200 fighters.
“Standard procedure requires photographing bodies and collecting details when possible, then sending evidence to intelligence to verify militant status or at least confirm they were killed by the [Israeli army],” he said. “Of those 200 casualties, only ten were confirmed as known Hamas operatives. Yet no one questioned the public announcement about killing hundreds of militants.”
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