Israeli soldiers say they were ordered to fire at unarmed aid seekers: Report
Israeli officers and soldiers have told a local newspaper that they were instructed to shoot at unarmed Palestinians seeking aid at designated distribution zones in Gaza, despite the crowds posing no threat.
Israel’s Haaretz reported that it had learned that the military prosecutor’s office has demanded that the military’s supreme command launch an investigation of suspected war crimes at the aid hubs.
In the report, the soldiers described how they fired on crowds of aid seekers to prevent them approaching or disperse them, rather than using non-lethal crowd control measures.
“It’s a killing field … where I was, between one and five people were killed every day,” one soldier said.
“They fire on them as if they were an attacking force: they don’t use riot control devices, they don’t shoot tear gas, they shoot everything you can think of – a heavy machine gun, a grenade launcher, mortars.
He added: “We communicate with them through fire.”
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 549 people have been killed near aid centres since they began operating in late May. The US has just approved $30m in funding for the group, despite the routine violence at its sites and warnings from human rights lawyers that its staff could be held criminally liable for complicity in war crimes.
Israeli soldier confessions over killings at aid centres detail ‘war crimes’: Media office
“War crimes” are taking place at US and Israeli-backed aid distribution centres in Gaza, according to the enclave’s Government Media Office.
The statement referencing “the shocking confessions” of Israeli soldiers published by the Haaretz newspaper of “deliberately shooting starving Palestinian civilians” near the aid points said the testimonies are evidence of “war crimes”.
“The report’s direct military orders to fire on unarmed civilians who pose no threat, and the use of heavy machine guns, artillery, and shells against peaceful gatherings waiting for food, are further evidence that the Israeli occupation army is pursuing a systematic policy of genocide under the false guise of ‘relief’,” the media office said.
