Homes systematically destroyed by IDF on Gaza border
Israeli soldiers who served in the Gaza Strip have described a systematic campaign to demolish buildings and fields in the early months of the war, aimed at expanding a buffer zone inside the enclave.
According to the Washington Post on April 7th, a report was published by Breaking the Silence, a watchdog group made up of ex-Israeli soldiers.
The report, which includes 12 testimonies from soldiers deployed between October 2023 and August last year, details operations to raze thousands of structures. According to their testimonies, this included homes, industrial zones, and agricultural areas.
One reservist said his combat engineering unit received daily orders to demolish five to seven houses using explosives; meanwhile, another recounted the methodical destruction of industrial buildings.
Soldiers said the instructions were typically justified by commanders as precautionary measures to prevent future attacks.
The report includes accounts from soldiers of combat engineering units, infantry brigades, and armored corps.
One captain, in the report, said: “We decided on a line which is the borderline, past which everyone is a suspect, but it’s not clear to me how familiar Palestinians are with this line.”
Combat engineering units were moved to the northern and eastern borderlands of Gaza and ordered to flatten over 3,500 buildings.
International law professor at Rutgers University, Adil Haque, has said that under International humanitarian law “any destruction by the occupying power of civilian property except when absolutely necessary for military operations,” is prohibited. According to Breaking the Silence, evacuations should not be permanent and if they are, this would likely amount to ethnic cleansing.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has said that the military adheres to international law and seeks to minimize civilian harm. But one combat engineering sergeant recalled finding signs of militant activity only “on a few occasions.” An infantry sergeant described the wiping out of industrial facilities as “excessive” and lacking in justification.
The Washington Post
