Latest news with #BtS
Middle East Eye
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Israeli soldiers detail orders to 'annihilate' Gaza land for buffer zone
Israeli troops were given orders to raze agricultural land, destroy residential blocks and open fire on anyone who came near them to make way for deadly buffer zones in Gaza, a report by Israeli veterans' group Breaking the Silence (BtS) has revealed. According to Israeli soldiers interviewed for the report, titled "The Perimeter", the army created a perimeter, between 800 and 1500 metres in breadth and 1.5km inside the Gaza Strip, where "large swathes of the land were turned into massive kill zones". The soldiers said that the borders of such areas were invisible, constantly changing and were not communicated to Palestinians. "At first, the IDF (Israeli army) designated a certain area that was forbidden to cross. The IDF decides on a certain line, and conceptually, anyone who crosses it is considered a threat," one reserve commander testified. "It happened at the Netzarim Corridor and it happened on the border, too. There are no clear rules of engagement. There is some room for discretion on the ground. Like, ultimately, it's down to the company commander and the battalion commander." New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The Netzarim Corridor, a six-kilometre stretch of land south of Gaza City that divides the strip into its northern and southern parts, is used by Israeli forces to monitor and control the movement of Palestinians between northern and southern Gaza and to launch military operations. 'Anyone who crosses a certain line, that we have defined, is considered a threat and is sentenced to death' - Israeli soldier in Gaza In December, a Haaretz investigation revealed that hundreds of Palestinians, including children, had been indiscriminately shot dead by Israeli soldiers along the corridor. It had been designated as a 'kill zone' by the Division 252 commander, according to a senior officer, allowing soldiers to shoot 'anyone who enters". "There is no proper combat procedure like there is in Judea and Samaria [West Bank]. Company commanders make all kinds of decisions about this, so it ultimately very much depends on who they are. But there is no system of accountability in general," the Israeli reserve commander told BtS. "Anyone who crosses a certain line, that we have defined, is considered a threat and is sentenced to death. That did exist. It was an IDF definition. There was a line." A land without rules The testimonies given to Breaking the Silence reveal the orders soldiers received to conduct missions searching for corpses and the razing of vast stretches of Gaza. "Within the Perimeter, the IDF created a vast expanse where rules of engagement were seemingly nonexistent and civilian homes were methodically destroyed en masse, alongside infrastructure and agriculture critical to Gaza's future self-sufficiency and rehabilitation," BtS reported. Israel has been accused of forcibly razing Gaza's border areas ever since the early months of the war, with the UN high commissioner for human rights saying these acts may constitute war crimes in February last year. According to Breaking the Silence, buffer zones are a fundemental part of Israel's defence strategy, with the current zones in Gaza established after "wholesale destruction", entirely reshaping around 16 percent of Gaza. Amnesty says the mass devastation of buildings and agricultural lands along the eastern boundaries amount to collective punishment of Palestinian civilians, even if civilian property may have been used by armed groups in the past. In its report, Breaking the Silence notes that the creation of such a perimeter isolates Gaza and ensures Israel has "absolute military control over the area". Rage and clarity as Palestinians detail devastation in northern Gaza Read More » Soldiers testified that certain areas were divided into sections called "polygons", where they were given instructions to systematically dismantle and ravage them using bulldozers, mines and explosives. "Basically, our main mission was blowing things up, I'm talking up to hundreds of structure units (buildings). It's not like the high rises in Shati (refugee camp in Gaza City). It's one-storey or two-storey cubes. But the destruction is total," an Israeli sergeant major operating in Khan Younis said. He added that the logic behind mass destruction and erasure of infrastructure was to "create flat lines of observation and fire." "There's a map that the Gaza Division made of polygons along the Strip fence that are marked in green, yellow, orange, and red," the sergeant major explained. "Green means that more than 80 percent of the buildings were taken down - residential buildings, greenhouses, sheds, factories; you name it - it needs to be flat. That's the order. "There are no structures, except for that Unrwa school and that small water facility - for everything else, the directive was 'nothing left.'" Dismantling Palestinian self-sufficiency The report also outlines how Israel sought to destroy Palestinian self-sufficiency in food production with the army razing "around 35 percent of all agriculture in the Gaza Strip". "This crippled Gaza's self-sufficiency by increasing its reliance on food entering from IDF-controlled crossings, sabotaging any future attempt at rebuilding sustainably," the report added. 'All of them were wiped off the face of the earth. Annihilation, expropriation, and expulsion are immoral and must never be normalised' - Breaking the Silence report "Industrial zones and agricultural areas which served the entire population of Gaza were laid to waste, regardless of whether those areas had any connection whatsoever to the fighting." According to a former reserves first sergeant in the 5th Brigade, areas in Gaza's boundaries were razed, and completely demolished, even if they were residential blocks or agricultural land. "What you do is bite off a kilometre west along the strip, from the fence inward. Essentially create a sterile strip - where there once used to be fields, groves, all kinds of things - nothing, sterile," he said. "Fields or groves before. After - sand, dunes, destruction. It really didn't surprise me, it was clear to me that this is what's going on, that we're going to take a bite out of the [Gaza] Strip." Another soldier said that large excavators were used in fields, taking out the soil and growth in the area. "Achzariot [armoured personnel carrier] and tanks provide security, and the D9 [armoured bull dozer] just mows down everything within a certain square, and then you move on northwards," the solider said. The D9 destroyed "mainly fields, agriculture, olive trees, eggplant fields. A very large excavator just comes through and takes out all the soil, kind of rolls it up, flattens it. It was a shame, great agriculture, beautiful eggplants and beautiful cauliflowers." The report noted that the creation of the perimeter and enforcing heavy military control led to the annihilation of over "3,500 buildings, as well as industrial and agricultural areas which are critical for the fabric of life in the Gaza Strip". "All of them were wiped off the face of the earth. Annihilation, expropriation, and expulsion are immoral and must never be normalised or legitimised," the report said.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
From razing rubble to blowing up homes: IDF soldiers share how they expanded Gaza buffer zone in new report
A new report from Breaking the Silence (BtS), an Israel-based NGO, has compiled testimony from soldiers who detail how they razed plots of land during the war in their mission to expand the buffer zone between Gaza and Israel deeper into the strip. BtS, which was founded by Israel Defence Forces veterans, has released a report titled The Perimeter: Soldiers' testimonies from the Gaza Buffer Zone 2023-2024, containing information from interviews with dozens of IDF soldiers who served in Gaza and participated in the expansion of the buffer zone, which the report refers to as the perimeter. CBC News was able to speak to one of those soldiers who provided details of the IDF's activities in the area that runs north to south along the border. Since it was founded in 2004, BtS has published reports based on more than 1,400 accounts from IDF soldiers based on their experiences while serving in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem since September 2000, in its effort to "expose the public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories" and "bring an end to the occupation." In a statement to CBC News, BtS said the creation of the perimeter through "confiscation of land" will cause significant obstacles to reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip and "undermines its long-term sustainability." The organization says that statements by Israeli officials, including that the territory would "remain in Israeli hands" and that Palestinians would not be allowed to return, amount to what BtS calls "ethnic cleansing." BtS is also calling on the Israeli government to return to the negotiating table and seek a diplomatic solution to return the hostages and bring peace to the region. 'A future of no security' Israeli forces have maintained a perimeter running north to south along the border between Gaza and Israel since at least the early 2000s. In 2015, the United Nations Humanitarian Agency OCHA noted that the buffer zone extended 300 metres into the strip. Palestinians generally have not been allowed within that distance of the fence separating the two regions. Since Oct. 7, 2023 — when Hamas-led militants stormed across the Gaza-Israel border, killed over a thousand people and kidnapped 250, according to Israeli tallies — the perimeter has been expanded to at least one kilometre into Gaza, according to IDF soldiers who told BtS about their involvement in the mission to extend it. Though the report does not name the soldiers, it does give their ranks and the general areas and periods they served. One IDF soldier featured in the report, a warrant officer who served in northern Gaza between January and February 2024, told BtS that the buffer zone would reach as far as 1.5 kilometres into Gaza, civilians would be banned and everything would be razed. When asked what the area would look like after they were through, they replied: "Hiroshima. That's what I'm saying, Hiroshima." "This is a policy by the current Israeli government, which leads us to a future of no security," Joel Carmel, the advocacy director at BtS, told CBC News in a video call. Carmel says Israel's ongoing push to extend the perimeter into Gaza during the war means the expanded zone where Palestinians are not allowed could become a permanent fixture in post-war Gaza, and that Israel is choosing a future for Gaza where "no one can ever come back" to that area. Recent media reports, some citing Israeli humanitarian organization Gisha, have said that when Israel's expansion of the buffer zone is complete, it will encompass as much as 17 per cent of the Gaza Strip's area. Israeli soldiers stand on a tank on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Feb. 11. (Amir Cohen/Reuters) OCHA says 65 per cent of the enclave is now within "no-go" areas, under active displacement orders or both. Israel has not fully explained its long-term goals for the areas it is now seizing, though Gaza residents say they believe the aim is to permanently depopulate swaths of land, including some of Gaza's last farmland and water infrastructure. Carmel points to a statement by Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in October 2023 where he said that "Gaza's territory will shrink" after the war ends. CBC News reached out to the IDF and Israeli government officials for comment but did not hear back before publication. In their testimonies to BtS, IDF soldiers who participated in the expansion of the perimeter, detail the destruction left behind and how the perimeter's presence impacts both Palestinian and Israeli societies. IN PHOTOS | In the ruins of Gaza: Leaving Gaza as a 'mound of rubble' One soldier who spoke to BtS and CBC News served as a sergeant first class in northern Gaza in November 2023. They said that their unit was tasked with blowing up more than 100 buildings in the perimeter during their tour in Gaza. Though CBC confirmed the identity of the sergeant, they spoke on the condition that their identity be kept confidential out of fear for their security and livelihood. According to the sergeant, IDF soldiers were told in a briefing that the areas they were told to destroy were near enough to Israeli settlements and cities that they were a security threat and had to be destroyed. The sergeant told CBC that this was the first time the perimeter was mentioned during their mission. They began their tour in northern Gaza, an area that was already mostly rubble, where they were tasked with razing abandoned homes and buildings. Soon, they said their mission expanded to blowing up houses in southern Gaza, where they noted there were still signs of life. It was at this point, the sergeant said, questions about the purpose of the mission began to grow in their mind. "The houses there were not nearly as destroyed as in the north," the sergeant told CBC News over Zoom. "You see the signs of people's lives were there, and their stuff." The sergeant noted that the reservist training they received didn't cover how to blow up houses. Instead, they said, they were taught how to blow up tunnel entrances and set up mines on bridges and in fields. "Houses … are not really something we trained for," the sergeant said. "Even the commanders were kind of learning it as we were going." The sergeant said that when they left Gaza in December 2023, it was a "mound of rubble." WATCH | Professor tracks destruction in Gaza: 'Everything is destroyed' Professor Adi Ben-Nun of the Geography Information Systems department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has been tracking the destruction in Gaza and the expansion of the perimeter since the beginning of the war. He says that before Oct. 7, 2023, there were about 180,000 buildings in Gaza, based on United Nations estimations. He says 120,000 of those buildings were destroyed before the ceasefire was broken in March. Data detailing the destruction since then is not yet available. He says the agricultural land within the perimeter contained about 3,000 buildings, and that it has all been "completely demolished." Adi Ben-Nun, with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem says he has been tracking the destruction in the strip since the beginning of the war using satellite imagery. He says that of the estimated 180,000 buildings in Gaza before the war, about 120,000 have been destroyed. (Submitted by Adi Ben-Nun) "You must understand that it's not only the building, it's the roads, the electricity, the water structure, the sewage …everything is destroyed," he told CBC News during a video call, where he demonstrated the satellite imagery he used to track the destruction. Using his computer, Ben-Nun toggled between two satellite images he created using Google maps — one showing the state of the perimeter before Oct. 7, and the other after. The map from before shows green patches of land and buildings. On the map from after, the greyish-beige colour of war emerges; tank tracks and destroyed buildings are all that can be seen. He says that based on this level of destruction, it would take generations for Gazans to rebuild what has been lost. "Even if people are allowed to go back home," Ben-Nun said, "there is no home."
CBC
07-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
From razing rubble to blowing up homes: IDF soldiers share how they expanded Gaza buffer zone in new report
Breaking the Silence report details how perimeter around Gaza expanded at least 1 kilometre into the strip A new report from (BtS), an Israel-based NGO, has compiled testimony from soldiers who detail how they razed plots of land during the war in their mission to expand the buffer zone between Gaza and Israel deeper into the strip. BtS, which was founded by Israel Defence Forces veterans, has released a report titled The Perimeter: Soldiers' testimonies from the Gaza Buffer Zone 2023-2024, containing information from interviews with dozens of IDF soldiers who served in Gaza and participated in the expansion of the buffer zone, which the report refers to as the perimeter. CBC News was able to speak to one of those soldiers who provided details of the IDF's activities in the area that runs north to south along the border. Since it was founded in 2004, BtS has published reports based on more than 1,400 accounts from IDF soldiers based on their experiences while serving in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem since September 2000, in its effort to "expose the public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories" and "bring an end to the occupation." In a statement to CBC News, BtS said the creation of the perimeter through "confiscation of land" will cause significant obstacles to reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip and "undermines its long-term sustainability." The organization says that statements by Israeli officials, including that the territory would "remain in Israeli hands" and that Palestinians would not be allowed to return, amount to what BtS calls "ethnic cleansing." BtS is also calling on the Israeli government to return to the negotiating table and seek a diplomatic solution to return the hostages and bring peace to the region. 'A future of no security' Israeli forces have maintained a perimeter running north to south along the border between Gaza and Israel since at least the early 2000s. In 2015, the United Nations Humanitarian Agency OCHA noted that the buffer zone extended 300 metres into the strip. Palestinians generally have not been allowed within that distance of the fence separating the two regions. Since Oct. 7, 2023 — when Hamas-led militants stormed across the Gaza-Israel border, killed over a thousand people and kidnapped 250, according to Israeli tallies — the perimeter has been expanded to at least one kilometre into Gaza, according to IDF soldiers who told BtS about their involvement in the mission to extend it. Though the report does not name the soldiers, it does give their ranks and the general areas and periods they served. One IDF soldier featured in the report, a warrant officer who served in northern Gaza between January and February 2024, told BtS that the buffer zone would reach as far as 1.5 kilometres into Gaza, civilians would be banned and everything would be razed. When asked what the area would look like after they were through, they replied: "Hiroshima. That's what I'm saying, Hiroshima." "This is a policy by the current Israeli government, which leads us to a future of no security," Joel Carmel, the advocacy director at BtS, told CBC News in a video call. Carmel says Israel's ongoing push to extend the perimeter into Gaza during the war means the expanded zone where Palestinians are not allowed could become a permanent fixture in post-war Gaza, and that Israel is choosing a future for Gaza where "no one can ever come back" to that area. Recent media reports, some citing Israeli humanitarian organization Gisha, have said that when Israel's expansion of the buffer zone is complete, it will encompass as much as 17 per cent of the Gaza Strip's area. OCHA says 65 per cent of the enclave is now within "no-go" areas, under active displacement orders or both. Israel has not fully explained its long-term goals for the areas it is now seizing, though Gaza residents say they believe the aim is to permanently depopulate swaths of land, including some of Gaza's last farmland and water infrastructure. Carmel points to a statement by Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in October 2023 where he said that "Gaza's territory will shrink" after the war ends. CBC News reached out to the IDF and Israeli government officials for comment but did not hear back before publication. In their testimonies to BtS, IDF soldiers who participated in the expansion of the perimeter, detail the destruction left behind and how the perimeter's presence impacts both Palestinian and Israeli societies. IN PHOTOS | In the ruins of Gaza: Leaving Gaza as a 'mound of rubble' One soldier who spoke to BtS and CBC News served as a sergeant first class in northern Gaza in November 2023. They said that their unit was tasked with blowing up more than 100 buildings in the perimeter during their tour in Gaza. Though CBC confirmed the identity of the sergeant, they spoke on the condition that their identity be kept confidential out of fear for their security and livelihood. According to the sergeant, IDF soldiers were told in a briefing that the areas they were told to destroy were near enough to Israeli settlements and cities that they were a security threat and had to be destroyed. The sergeant told CBC that this was the first time the perimeter was mentioned during their mission. They began their tour in northern Gaza, an area that was already mostly rubble, where they were tasked with razing abandoned homes and buildings. Soon, they said their mission expanded to blowing up houses in southern Gaza, where they noted there were still signs of life. It was at this point, the sergeant said, questions about the purpose of the mission began to grow in their mind. "The houses there were not nearly as destroyed as in the north," the sergeant told CBC News over Zoom. "You see the signs of people's lives were there, and their stuff." The sergeant noted that the reservist training they received didn't cover how to blow up houses. Instead, they said, they were taught how to blow up tunnel entrances and set up mines on bridges and in fields. "Houses … are not really something we trained for," the sergeant said. "Even the commanders were kind of learning it as we were going." The sergeant said that when they left Gaza in December 2023, it was a "mound of rubble." 'Everything is destroyed' Professor Adi Ben-Nun of the Geography Information Systems department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has been tracking the destruction in Gaza and the expansion of the perimeter since the beginning of the war. He says that before Oct. 7, 2023, there were about 180,000 buildings in Gaza, based on United Nations estimations. He says 120,000 of those buildings were destroyed before the ceasefire was broken in March. Data detailing the destruction since then is not yet available. He says the agricultural land within the perimeter contained about 3,000 buildings, and that it has all been "completely demolished." "You must understand that it's not only the building, it's the roads, the electricity, the water structure, the sewage …everything is destroyed," he told CBC News during a video call, where he demonstrated the satellite imagery he used to track the destruction. Using his computer, Ben-Nun toggled between two satellite images he created using Google maps — one showing the state of the perimeter before Oct. 7, and the other after. The map from before shows green patches of land and buildings. On the map from after, the greyish-beige colour of war emerges; tank tracks and destroyed buildings are all that can be seen. He says that based on this level of destruction, it would take generations for Gazans to rebuild what has been lost. "Even if people are allowed to go back home," Ben-Nun said, "there is no home."
