Some troops fighting in Israel’s war on Gaza were urged by their commanders to shoot first rather than worry about killing civilians, a document from an Israeli activist group shows.
Published on Wednesday, the document also gives an insight into Israel’s policy of house demolitions and its use of white phosphorus during its 22-day campaign.
“Better hit an innocent than hesitate to target an enemy,” one soldier is recorded as saying, speaking about instructions given to him in advance of the operation, which ran from December 27 to January 18.
Another interpreted the orders given to him as: “If you’re not sure, kill ... In urban warfare, anyone is your enemy. No innocents.”
Under such conditions, it is possible the Israelis feared attacks by suicide bombers.
“There were lots of suicide bomber alerts at the time, all the time,” said one of the unnamed soldiers whose testimony was recorded in the document.
