Jerusalem: Israeli army gave its soldiers in the Gaza war the licence to kill with the commanders issuing instructions to "shoot first and worry later", an activist group, made up of veteran troops, charged in a report on Wednesday.
The testimony of 30 soldiers shows that the army's goal was to minimise its own casualties to ensure Israeli public support for the offensive and that they did not bother much on sorting out civilians from the combatants, Breaking the Silence (BTS), releasing print and video testimonies of soldiers, said in the report.
"Better hit an innocent than hesitate to target an enemy," is the way an unidentified soldier presented his understanding of instructions repeated at pre-invasion briefings and during the 22-day operation in December-January.
"If you're not sure, kill. Firepower was insane. We went in and the booms were just mad," another said adding, "The minute we got to our starting line, we simply began to fire at suspect places. In urban warfare, anyone is your enemy. No innocents."
"We did not get instructions to shoot at anything that moved," says a third soldier, "but we were generally instructed: if you feel threatened, shoot. They kept repeating to us that this is war and in war opening fire is not restricted."
The 112-page scathing report by the activist group includes testimonies of 30 soldiers "who served in all sectors of the operation".
"The majority... are still serving in their regular military units and turned to us in deep distress at the moral deterioration of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)," it says.
Their testimonies bring into question the credibility of the official IDF versions, the BTS says.
The army in its response said that on initial consideration, a few of the allegations appear to be similar to allegations published several months ago after a lecture by officers to cadets at a pre-military academy.
"Now, too, a considerable portion of the testimony is based on rumours and secondhand accounts. Most of the incidents relate to anonymous testimony lacking in identifying details, and accordingly it is not possible to check the allegations on an individual basis in a way that would enable an investigation, confirmation or refutation," an army spokesman said.
"The BTS report suggests that the organisation might not be interested in a reliable comprehensive examination of the allegations, and to our regret this is not the first time the organisation has taken this course of action. The IDF is obligated to examine every well-founded complaint it receives," he said.