Israeli Troops Confess to Killing Civilians and PCHR Confirms over 83% Civilians Dead in Gaza

Troops with the Israeli army confirm killing civilians and intentionally destroying their property. The soldiers are graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College in Tivon. Some excerpts of their confessions:

"There was a house with a family inside .... We put them in a room. Later we left the house and another platoon entered it, and a few days after that there was an order to release the family. They had set up positions upstairs. There was a sniper position on the roof," the soldier said.

"The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn't understand and went to the left, but they forgot to tell the sharpshooter on the roof they had let them go and it was okay, and he should hold his fire and he ... he did what he was supposed to, like he was following his orders."

According to the squad leader: "The sharpshooter saw a woman and children approaching him, closer than the lines he was told no one should pass. He shot them straight away....

....

"All the articles had one clear message," one soldier said. "We are the people of Israel, we arrived in the country almost by miracle, now we need to fight to uproot the gentiles who interfere with re-conquering the Holy Land."

"Many soldiers' feelings were that this was a war of religion," he added.

See Ha'aretz here and the BBC here.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) confirms that the vast majority of dead in the War on Gaza were civilians and non-combatants. A total of 1,417 Palestinians were killed. Of these, 236 were combatants. 926 civilians lost their lives, including 313 children and 116 women. The 255 police officers that were killed were non-combatants. See the PCHR press release here and download the list of dead here. Ynet's report on the list is available here.