With Tel Aviv focused on expanding its occupation of southern Syria, Israeli soldiers say the army is operating freely inside Gaza as ‘an armed independent militia without laws’

News Desk, THE CRADLE, DEC 18, 2024

Israeli reservists who served in the Netzarim Corridor, a recently built road that splits the Gaza Strip in two, have revealed that soldiers are under strict orders to “shoot anyone” they spot approaching the “killing area.”

“There is a line north of the Netzarim Corridor known as the ‘line of corpses,’ and the residents of Gaza are fully aware of its meaning. In this area, Palestinians are indiscriminately shot, and their bodies are left to be devoured by dogs,” a commander from Division 252 told Haaretz.

“There is a line north of the Netzarim Corridor known as the ‘line of corpses,’ and the residents of Gaza are fully aware of its meaning. In this area, Palestinians are indiscriminately shot, and their bodies are left to be devoured by dogs.”

Israeli commander from Division 252

“The killing area is the sniper’s target range … We kill civilians there, and they are counted as terrorists,” he added, revealing that a “competition” exists between the different army divisions occupying the east-to-west corridor. “If Division 99 killed 150, then the next in line would try to reach 200.”

Those interviewed often spoke about the “imaginary lines” north and south of the Netzarim Corridor that commanders implement as the kill zone. “Anyone approaching the line at that moment is considered a threat — and no shooting permit is required.”

Haaretz says that multiple commanders and soldiers in both permanent and reserve service gave testimony about the “unlimited power” given to division commanders in recent months.

“The division commander is hardly limited today in [Gaza],” a veteran officer in Division 252 says. “In Gaza today, a division commander can order a drone attack [or] decide if he is occupying a city.” Moreover, those interviewed said the army often acts as an “armed independent militia, without laws, at least not those written in IDF orders.”

“We killed a young boy, 16 years old, maybe. When [another soldier] commented and said he was unarmed and seemed to be just a civilian … the commander said: “For me, anyone who crosses the line is a terrorist, no discounts, no civilians. Everyone is a terrorist,” another soldier recounts.

Soldiers also detail serving under Division 252 commander General Yehuda Vach. “[Every man] came to check the forces and gather intelligence on us. Every woman is a spy, or it’s a man who is disguised as a woman. Vach decided to raise his head and determined that anyone who comes with a bicycle to the area [can be killed]. He decided that people on bikes were terrorists.”

The soldiers are reportedly under orders from army command to photograph the bodies and gather details of those killed for military intelligence to verify whether the victims were “terrorists.”

“The procedure says to photograph the body and [gather] details and send it to intelligence to verify that it is a terrorist. In practice, out of 200 killed for testing, only 10 were verified as recognized Hamas activists. But who did it bother with publishing that we killed hundreds of terrorists?” the reservists revealed.

Any Palestinian who survives is reportedly taken to a “cage” where he is left naked until army investigators arrive to determine whether the person is a “terrorist,” often interrogating them at gunpoint.

In June, dozens of Israeli reservists signed a protest letter saying they would not obey a government-issued call to Gaza, citing the atrocities being committed there. 

“To say that we are the most moral army in the world is simply to remove responsibility from the soldiers who know exactly what we are doing there,” a senior reserve commander who recently returned from serving in the Netzarim Corridor told Haaretz.

“It is not wanting to listen to our soldiers, to ignore the fact that we have been in a place for more than a year where there are no rules, where human life is worth nothing, and yes, we commanders and fighters are taking part in the horror that is happening in Gaza. And now – you will deal with it too.”

Over 45,000 bodies have been recovered in the past 14 months by Palestinian first responders who continue to operate inside Gaza despite constant Israeli attacks. Tens of thousands more remain trapped under the rubble as Israel’s campaign of genocide intensifies.