Report: Israeli troops shot dead hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza 'kill zone'

Hundreds of Palestinians, including children, have reportedly been indiscriminately shot dead by Israeli soldiers in a "kill zone" established during the ongoing Israeli aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip. 

Soldiers told Haaretz that arbitrarily defined boundaries around the Netzarim Corridor were being used to kill Palestinians seemingly at random and without authorization. 

A senior officer in Division 252 said Netzarim, an occupation area established by the Israeli military in the middle of Gaza, was more than a simple exclusion zone. 

Those killed are posthumously branded "terrorists" even if they are children, he said.

"The division commander designated this area as a 'kill zone'," he explained. "Anyone who enters is shot."

Another member of the same division said that the boundaries of the zone were largely arbitrary and extended "as far as a sniper can see."

"We're killing civilians there who are then counted as terrorists," he added.

This comes as there have been repeated reports of indiscriminate killings of civilians in areas under the full control of the Israeli military. 

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) recently said women and children comprise nearly 70 percent of those killed during Israel’s military campaign in the besieged Palestinian territory. 

Most of the verified deaths in Gaza were children between the ages of five and nine. The youngest victim whose death was verified by UN monitors was a one-day-old boy, and the oldest was a 97-year-old woman.

70% of victims of Israeli genocide in Gaza are children and women: UN

The UN Human Rights Office says women and children comprise nearly 70 percent of those killed in the Gaza Strip.

The Haaretz report further said that an "unprecedented" level of authority had been given to commanders in the besieged Palestinian territory to kill targets. Low-ranking officers were even allowed to order air strikes.

In one incident, a soldier recounted shooting dead a 16-year-old in a hail of bullets, "shooting and laughing". 

"That evening, our battalion commander congratulated us for killing a terrorist, saying he hoped we'd kill 10 more tomorrow," the soldier was quoted as saying.

"When someone pointed out he was unarmed and looked like a civilian, everyone shouted him down. The commander said: 'Anyone crossing the line is a terrorist, no exceptions, no civilians. Everyone's a terrorist."

Another soldier referred to a military spokesperson announcing that their division had killed more than 200 "militants" in the besieged region. 

"Standard procedure requires photographing bodies and collecting details when possible, then sending evidence to intelligence to verify the militant status or at least confirm they were killed by the Israeli military," they said.

"Of those 200 casualties, only 10 were confirmed as known Hamas operatives. Yet no one questioned the public announcement about killing hundreds of militants."

Other testimony revealed the ideological zeal expressed by some commanders for their actions in Gaza.

One soldier recalled Brigadier General Yehuda Vach, head of Division 252, telling his subordinates that "there are no innocents in Gaza".

"It wasn't just opinion - it became operational doctrine: everyone's a terrorist," said the soldier, adding that Vach also said that "in the Middle East, victory comes through conquering territory. We must keep conquering until we win".

The UN has already said Israel’s warfare methods in the besieged Gaza Strip are consistent with “genocide”. 

UN report says Israel’s methods in Gaza align with ‘genocide’

The new UN report has found that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip are consistent with genocide.

In a new report published on Thursday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has concluded that Israel is guilty of the crime of extermination and acts of genocide in Gaza,

The US-based human rights organization found that Israel has inflicted conditions of life in Gaza calculated to destroy the enclave's Palestinian population. This amounts to extermination, which is a crime against humanity, and acts of genocide.

International organizations have denounced the occupation regime for deliberately targeting civilians and causing starvation through siege, obstruction of humanitarian aid and targeted attacks on aid workers. 

More than 45,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have so far been killed and more than 107,300 others injured since the regime launched its genocidal war on Gaza in October last year. 

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