Posted on 02/01/2024 8:28:56 PM PST by Uncle Miltie
Soldiers say method utilized to destroy structures used by terrorists amid shortage of demolition charges, but some claim activity has become gratuitous
IDF soldiers battling against the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip have torched hundreds of buildings, making them unfit for use, according to Hebrew media reports citing testimony from troops on the ground.
The Ynet news site reported Thursday that the method was employed to destroy structures used by terrorists due to a shortage of demolition charges. A Haaretz report from the previous day cited soldiers saying it was sometimes done by forces out of revenge.
The IDF said it only approves authorized methods of destroying buildings and that any other activity will be looked into.
According to Ynet, soldiers have burned down buildings that were the homes of terror operatives or where they found weapons as a way to conserve an insufficient supply of demolition explosives. The outlet said the military censor had several times over the past two months prevented it from reporting on that shortage, which became apparent once the IDF realized the scale of terror infrastructure across Gaza and the number of buildings that were being used by gunmen to fight or conceal weapons.
The report said the improvised practice of setting fire to some buildings began in a unit battling in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza. When top commanders of that unit found out, Ynet said, they ordered troops to stop, telling them, “We are not like the terrorists who burned our homes on October 7.”
However, the practice spread to other areas and units, where there has been a mixed response. Some brigade commanders have banned the practice, while other officers see it as acceptable, with one saying: “We do this, at the end of the day, so that the clouds of smoke can be seen far across Gaza and deter the Gaza population.”
He added: “These are houses that were 100% confirmed [as being used for military activity]. Every such house, we first document the weaponry within or the gunmen we’ve killed.”
He noted the high number of such locations that forces have encountered.
“When we say we’re meeting the enemy in every home, it is not a cliche,” said the officer, going on to assess that Hamas has made use of “perhaps tens of thousands” of buildings for combat purposes, including multistory residential buildings.
Footage purportedly from Bureij Refugee Camp showed several buildings ablaze simultaneously.
Another soldier told Ynet the method involves gathering all the furniture together in one room and then setting it alight to cause maximum damage.
The IDF has already used hundreds of tons of engineering explosives in Gaza and in recent weeks purchased tens of thousands of demolition explosives and new mines for use in destroying terror infrastructure, the report said.
Some of that will be used to clear a buffer zone that Israel intends to establish on the Gazan side of the border.
War erupted on October 7 when Hamas-led terrorists attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Some 3,000 attackers who invaded the south of the country from Gaza rampaged through communities, burning and destroying homes, in many cases with victims still inside. Terrorists also abducted 253 people to Gaza, where 132 remain captive, not all of them alive.
Israel responded with a massive military offensive, including a ground incursion, to remove Hamas from power and release the hostages.
Haaretz alleged that soldiers were setting premises alight as a matter of course. The paper alleged that a practice supposed to be used only in isolated cases has become more widespread.
It said soldiers have shared videos on social media of torchings in which they declared that they were revenge for comrades who were killed, or for the October 7 attacks (though soldiers have made such statements when demolishing terror targets, and it was not clear that the cases cited by the report were different).
One commander told the paper that soldiers who take up positions in buildings set them alight when they leave.
“We set them on fire as soon as we move on,” the unnamed officer said.
In one instance, Haaretz said, soldiers who had been using a building left a message written on the wall for another group that was to take their place. It read “We aren’t burning the building so you can use it. When you leave you know what to do.”
The IDF responded to the reports with a statement saying: “Detonation and destruction of buildings are done with approved and appropriate means. Actions done in other ways during the war will be examined.”
Haaretz reported that the US has recently asked Israel to stop destroying public buildings in Gaza, such as schools and medical clinics, saying it will hinder the rehabilitation of the Gaza population after the war concludes (Israel says it does so for structures serving terror groups). As a result, the rate at which buildings are being demolished using engineering methods has been significantly reduced.
Also, forces realized that destroying buildings with explosives or heavy machinery such as bulldozers uses up resources and poses a danger to troops themselves, the report said.
According to the report, the IDF realizes that setting fire to buildings to destroy them could create problems for Israel with Washington and at the International Court of Justice.
In November, UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Balakrishnan Rajagopal warned Israel’s widespread damage to Gaza buildings could be a war crime.
Israel says it is forced to engage in such destruction due to Hamas hiding behind civilians and regularly fighting from within homes throughout the Strip.
In a perfect world, the as yet unpolluted babies would be worth saving.
The islamic supremacist anti-semitic mind virus trained remainder are only so regrettable as their willingness to permanently change their minds allows.
See tagline.
One has to hold out hope in the face of highly unlikely odds.
In the mean time, bombs away!
In other words, “palestinians” must understand and reject attacking Jews because they understand that:
“Attacking Jews always and only is the path to death to me, my family and my fellows, so I permanently reject it.”
When essentially all “palestinians” have had their minds changed like that, then civilization can engage them with something other than high explosives and fast lead.
Might take awhile.
Put a third way, when a Jewish resident of gaza can safely walk the streets of Khan Younis protected by “palestinian” security forces (just as arabs in Israel are safe, free and protected by Israeli security forces), only then can the permanent state of war caused by islam be surely over.
That may take awhile, and cause much death as Israel takes the necessary steps to secure itself against perma-war from islam.
So, until that distant peace, BOMBS AWAY!
So.... are you just objecting to the METHOD used, or to any killing at all?
Well then.... what other METHOD did you have in mind ?
So.... it seems your goal here is to JUDGE OTHERS while NOT having walked a MILE in their SHOES in order to make yourself feel MORALLY SUPERIOR.
Convince me I’m wrong.
The purpose of war is to win. Period.
Might take awhile.
—
Especially since they are taught from near birth to worship a glorious death killing Jews.
it’s a start give em the carthage treatment.
No, I do not walk in the shoes of those who wantonly massacre innocent civilians. Perhaps you are of the mind set of one who can imagine himself perpetrating these crimes against humanity. You can parade in their jackboots all you want as you try to rationalize the inhumanity you condone. Me, I’m too humanized to be a part of your little stunt. I have no desire trying to convince the nether beings of anything.
You really ought to read the news.
Israel leaflets areas to be attacked so civilian casualties are minimized.
Israel robocalls people to get them out of the way of bombs.
Israel provides secure corridors for civilians to escape areas of conflict, while ham ass shoots their own civilians to stop them from fleeing their condition as ham ass’ human shields (a war crime).
Israel only attacks verified military targets, unlike ham ass which virtually only attacks civilian targets (a war crime.)
Israel’s attacks on ham ass military targets have regrettably resulted in quite normal rates of civilian casualties, which is amazingly low because the civilians are being used by ham ass as human shields (a war crime) in a war they started (which was a war crime.)
Israel is (unwisely, in my opinion) prepared to cease hostilities if the initially belligerent ham ass lays down the weapons it illegally bought with your money and release the largely civilian hostages they keep in violation of the Geneva Convention (a war crime.)
Simply put, every single thing you decry is precisely HAM ASS’ FAULT.
But you keep looking past their culpability as if you were their press agent.
Sad. ham ass chorus indeed.
Mein Herr, your swastikas are showing again.
Oh, did I mention?
I’m going to Israel to volunteer for the Israeli Defense Forces for three weeks this spring.
My service will free up a strapping 18-year-old Jew to use his M-16 to put bullets into the heads of islamofascist terrorist ham ass war criminals.
Maybe you should put your ass where your ham ass is, volunteer for your preferred side in gaza, and be the lucky recipient!
Or are you just a keyboard warrior?
Lying POS with a Hitler complex. PLEASE leave this country ASAP, to the netherworld where you came from.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Have a great day!
Dresden.
Hiroshima.
Nagasaki.
Axis leaders brought down hellish consequences upon innocent babies, children, and the elderly in their own countries.
IDF doesn’t wear your albatross; Hamas does.
Revel in it. Disgusting.
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