Israeli forces have demolished homes, schools, mosques and infrastructure and flattened fields to create a wide “kill zone” along the border between Gaza and Israel, according to a report containing the testimony of unnamed soldiers.
The report, from the Israeli rights group Breaking the Silence, cited soldiers who served in Gaza during the creation of a buffer zone, which was extended to between 800m-1,500m inside the Strip by December 2024 and which has since been expanded further by the Israeli military.
An armoured corps reserve captain who took part in the campaign said: “Anyone who crosses a certain line that we have defined is considered a threat and is sentenced to death.”
Unnamed officers and soldiers told Breaking the Silence that “Israel launched a major military engineering operation that, by wholesale destruction, entirely reshaped about 16 per cent of the Gaza Strip”.
The testimony came from soldiers who were serving in Gaza at the end of 2023, soon after Israeli troops entered the enclave, until early 2024. It did not cover the most recent operations to greatly enlarge the ground held by the military.
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According to the report, about 3,500 buildings were destroyed’ along with industrial and agricultural areas that “are critical to the life of the Gaza Strip, and would be vital for any attempt at reconstruction”.
An armoured corps warrant officer testified: “Essentially, everything gets mowed down, everything.” He said that after the demolitions, the area looked like “Hiroshima”.
A noncommissioned armoured corps officer told troops: “There’s no civilian population [in the zone]. They’re terrorists, all of them. There are no innocents.” Under army orders of engagement, he said: “We go in and if we identify suspects, we shoot them.”
Israel says the buffer zone encircling Gaza is needed to prevent a repeat of the October 7th, 2023 attack by thousands of Hamas-led fighters and gunmen. They poured across the previous 300m-deep buffer zone to assault a string of Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip. The attack, which killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, was one of the worst security disasters in Israel’s history.
To expand the zone, soldiers said bulldozers and heavy excavators were used along with explosives and mines.
The perimeter is enforced by live fire, machine gun fire and tank shells. “In this way, the military has created a death zone of enormous proportions,” Breaking the Silence reported. “However,” it said, “while the perimeter was defined and [its extent] conveyed to forces on the ground, there was no clear marking indicating its boundaries, putting the life of any Palestinian who crossed this imaginary line at risk.”
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The publication of the report coincides with Israeli army operations to divide Gaza into separate zones to facilitate reoccupation. Israel already occupies half of Gaza which has a population of about 2.3 million and is one of the most densely settled places on the Earth. During the past 18 months 50,819 Gazans have been killed and 11,688 wounded, Hamas-run Gaza health authorities reported on Tuesday.
Breaking the Silence, a non-governmental organisation, was formed in 2004 by former Israeli soldiers who testify on their military activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
It publishes testimonies and conducts tours in the occupied territories.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. – Additional reporting: Reuters.
