From the very start, they told us: ‘shoot to kill’

Sergeant in the Israeli Defence Force explains the orders for operations in Gaza l ast year

An Israeli campaign group has published interviews with 60 members of the armed forces, in which some of them claim that during last year’s war in Gaza they were ordered to fire on anyone who was not an Israeli soldier.

Breaking the Silence, which spent eight months compiling the report, says that watereddown rules of engagement and incessant bombing with inaccurate weapons “led to massive and unprecedented harm to the population and the civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip”.

One soldier, a first sergeant in an Israel Defence Force engineering unit who was sent to Gaza City, told the group: “The briefing on rules of engagement was [to open fire at] ‘anything you think you should [open fire at] … anyone you spot that you can be positive is not the IDF’. The only emphasis regarding rules of engagement was to make sure you weren’t firing at IDF forces, but other than that ‘any person you see’.

“From the very start, they told us: ‘Shoot to kill.’ As far as the IDF was concerned, there wasn’t supposed to be any civilian population there.”

The air force dropped thousands of leaflets, and, according to the testimonies, it was assumed that once these leaflets had been distributed, anyone left would be from Hamas or one of the other militant groups. Nearly 2,300 people were killed in the conflict.

The IDF said: “The IDF is committed to properly investigating all credible claims raised via media, NGOs and official complaints.” It added that Breaking the Silence has not provided evidence to support its claims.