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Israel-Palestine
conflict
Israeli
soldiers ‘ordered’ to shoot unarmed Gaza aid seekers: Report
The Israeli
news outlet, Haaretz, reports that soldiers operating near food aid sites in
Gaza have deliberately fired upon Palestinians.
Published On
27 Jun 2025
27 Jun 2025
Israeli
soldiers have deliberately shot at unarmed Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza
after being “ordered” to do so by their commanders, the Israeli newspaper
Haaretz reports.
Israel
ordered an investigation into possible war crimes over the allegations by some
soldiers that it revealed on Friday, Haaretz said.
At least 549
Palestinians have been killed and 4,066 injured while waiting for food aid
distributed at sites run by the Israeli-and United States-backed Gaza
Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the Gaza Government Media Office said on
Thursday. The GHF has been a source of widespread criticism since its
establishment in May.
According to
the Haaretz report, which quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers, troops were told to
fire at the crowds of Palestinians and use unnecessary lethal force against
people who appeared to pose no threat.
“We fired
machineguns from tanks and threw grenades,” one soldier told Haaretz. “There
was one incident where a group of civilians was hit while advancing under the
cover of fog.”
In another
instance, a soldier said that where they were stationed in Gaza, between “one
and five people were killed every day”.
“It’s a
killing field,” that soldier said.
Method of
‘control’
The Israeli
army “strongly rejected” the accusations in the report, according to a military
statement published on Telegram. “Any allegation of a deviation from the law or
[military] directives will be thoroughly examined, and further action will be
taken as necessary. The allegations of deliberate fire toward civilians
presented in the article are not recognized in the field,” it said.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz condemned
the report, calling it “blood libel” on the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF),
according to a statement carried by The Times of Israel news outlet.
“The IDF
operates under difficult conditions against a terrorist enemy that operates
from within the civilian population,” they said. “IDF soldiers receive clear
orders to avoid harming innocent civilians, and they act accordingly.”
According to
Haaretz, the Military Advocate General has told the army’s General Staff’s
Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism, which reviews incidents involving potential
violations of the laws of war, to investigate suspected war crimes at these aid
sites.
One of the
authors of the report, Nir Hasson, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli directive
to fire on civilians is part of a method to “control” the aid seekers.
“It’s
actually a practice of … controlling the crowd by fire, like if you wanted the
crowd to run off [from] a place, you shoot them at them, even though you know
they are unarmed … You use fire to move people from one point to another,” he
said from West Jerusalem.
While the
journalist and his colleagues do not know the name of the commander who might
have issued such a directive, Hasson said that he would likely hold a position
high up in the army.
Despite this
practice at these sites, most Israelis and the army’s troops still believe the
war on Gaza is just, even while some cracks are emerging in this understanding,
the journalist said.
“[There are]
more and more people who are asking themselves if this war is necessary, but
also what is the humanitarian price the Gazan population is [paying] for this
war,” he said.
“War crimes”
are taking place at GHF aid distribution sites in Gaza, the enclave’s
Government Media Office said in a statement, referencing “the shocking
confessions” published by Haaretz.
“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 statement added.
Reporting
from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the Haaretz report is
“shocking”.
“People in
Gaza have said these distribution centres have now become a death trap for
Palestinians,” Salhut said. “Aid groups have said that Palestinians are left
with no choice – to either starve to death, or die seeking the very little food
that is offered in the distribution centres run by the GHF.”
The GHF
operates four sites in Gaza – one in the centre and three in the south – and
attacks on aid seekers have only increased since an Israeli blockade was lifted
and the Foundation started distributing food at the end of May.
On Friday,
medics said six people were killed by gunfire as they tried to get food in
southern Gaza.
The GHF has
come under intense condemnation by aid groups, including the United Nations,
for its “weaponisation” of vital items.
“We don’t
need a report of that nature to acknowledge that there have been massive
violations of international law [in Gaza],” UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres said in response to a question from Al Jazeera about the Haaretz
report. “And when there is a violation of international law, there must be
accountability,” he added at a press conference in New York.
Elsewhere on
Friday, medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials,
MSF, called the GHF’s aid distribution sites “slaughter masquerading as
humanitarian aid”.
Since Israel
began its war on Gaza in October 2023, at least 56,331 people have been killed,
with 132,632 wounded in Israeli attacks, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported.
Source: Al
Jazeera and news agencies
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