At a briefing for journalists today by a media services organization that offers the Israeli point of view, three soldiers who had served in Gaza all said that their consciences were clear.
“War is ugly, but we did whatever we could to keep our ethics and limit civilian casualties”, said one of them, I., a commander in a special unit under the IDF’s Givati Brigade, which worked to get “real-time intelligence” during the fighting. “We knew exactly what was going on, and I can’t tell you more”, he said. I. identified himself as a senor information systems manger with Intel, and said he is a reserve officer who was on active duty during Operation Cast Lead. His unit fought beside Givati as they moved into the Zeitoun district of Gaza City. He said he never saw a Hamas fighter in uniform – which he indicated was a violation of law of war — and he said “they hid their weapons when they moved in the streets”. He said that he never saw before the use of so many expensive “guided missiles”, aimed to hit only the correct and designated target. He indicated that he had been promoted to the rank of Major as a result of his performance the Gaza war.
He said he was sure there were cases where soldiers made the wrong decisions – given the difficult conditions, it would be almost impossible not to have some mistakes. But, he said, “I was inside the Gaza Strip for two weeks, as part of a mobilizing team, and I haven’t seen it”.
The rules for firing were no different at all from the Second Lebanon War, he said: “If you identify the enemy, you shoot – and that means kill”. The problem was to distinguish between Hamas (activists or fighters, he said) and civilians – and this was difficult, he said, because “Hamas used Iranian and Syrian doctrine and drew their defense lines by civilian districts – they planned it that way”. The other major difference in this operation, according to I., is that the soldiers were instructed to make sure not to let anyone get kidnapped: “For Hamas, they can have half the Gaza population dead, and one Israeli soldier kidnapped, and they won” he said. Tunnels were a big threat, he said, and Hamas jumped out of them many times. He also said there were lots of booby traps planted in the Zeitoun district. He explained that is why, even after IDF troops had been sitting in an area for days, Hamas remained a constant threat – “because they use tunnels and human shields”, he said. “That’s why all the time you are there, you are under threat”.
He, too, was evasive about the reported use of unmanned D-9 bulldozers in the Gaza war. But did say: “Yes, we used D-9s. I was there. I was beside the commander. There was no order given to destroy property just for fun, just to punish the Palestinians. Every operation with a D-9 has to go through some level of approval process. It would be used, for example, if a house was a threat because it is part of Hamas’ defense. This is a decision-making that the commander needs to do, and you need to have a very good reason to use a D-9”.
D-9 bulldozers are manufactured by Caterpillar, and armored by state-owned Israel Military Industries. They are four meters high, and nearly 8 meters long. With an operating weight of 49 tons — reportedly more than 60 with IDF armour — they were previously used by the IDF in Rafah, and in Jenin in 2002. Actually, according to the Israeli business publication Globes, “The IDF Engineering Corps have used the D9 bulldozer for combat missions since the 1948 War of Independence”.