{"id":57885,"date":"2015-05-11T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T11:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=57885"},"modified":"2015-05-08T15:46:52","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T14:46:52","slug":"protective-edge-assault-idf-soldiers-testimony-from-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/05\/protective-edge-assault-idf-soldiers-testimony-from-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Protective Edge Assault: IDF Soldiers\u2019 Testimony from Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

4 May 2015 – To increase public accessibility to the information we gather, we have developed this Internet database, which allows for keyword searches of testimonies from our archives. The database contains all testimonies that have been verified by our researchers to date, and it continues to be updated daily:<\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.breakingthesilence.org.il\/testimonies\/database\/?tzuk=1<\/a><\/p>\n

***************<\/em><\/p>\n

[Excerpt:]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing there as a person who is uninvolved\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

testimony catalog number: 132517
\nrank: Staff Sergeant
\nunit: Mechanized infantry
\narea: Deir al-Balah area
\nperiod: 2014<\/p>\n

The rules of engagement are pretty identical: Anything inside [the Gaza Strip] is a threat, the area has to be \u2018sterilized,\u2019 empty of people \u2013 and if we don\u2019t see someone waving a white flag, screaming \u201cI give up\u201d or something \u2013 then he is a threat and there is authorization to open fire. In the event that we arrest and restrain him, then one strips him to make sure there is no explosive device on him.<\/p>\n

To get authorization to open fire, does he need to be armed, or with binoculars?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think he just needs to be there.<\/p>\n

When you say open fire, what does that mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shooting to kill. This is combat in an urban area, we\u2019re in a war zone. The saying was: \u2018There\u2019s no such thing there as a person who is uninvolved.\u2019 In that situation, anyone there is involved. Everything is dangerous; there were no special intelligence warnings such as some person, or some white vehicle arriving\u2026 No vehicle is supposed to be there \u2013 if there is one, we shoot at it. Anything that\u2019s not \u2018sterile\u2019 is suspect. There was an intelligence warning about animals. If a suspicious animal comes near, shoot it. In practice, we didn\u2019t do that. We had arguments about whether or not to do it. But that was just a general instruction; in practice you learn to recognize the animals because they are the only ones wandering around.<\/p>\n

During the period that you were there, did you see an armed Palestinian?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing, I didn\u2019t see a single living human being, except for the guys in my platoon and a few from the Armored Corps.<\/p>\n

This testimony appears under these categories: General<\/a>, Rules of engagement<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This testimony can also be read in Hebrew<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 breakingthesilence.org.il<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4 May 2015 – To increase public accessibility to the information we gather, we have developed this Internet database, which allows for keyword searches of testimonies from our archives. The database contains all testimonies that have been verified by our researchers to date, and it continues to be updated daily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57885\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}