Israeli soldiers have begun in recent weeks to set fire to homes in the Gaza Strip, following direct orders from their commanders, without the necessary legal permission to do so, according to information obtained by Haaretz.

Soldiers have destroyed several hundred buildings using this method over the past month. After the structure is set on fire along with everything inside it, it is allowed to burn out until it is rendered useless.


When asked about the new practice, an Israeli army commander told Haaretz that structures are selected for burning based on intel. When asked about a building that was set ablaze not far from where the interview took place, the commander said: “There must have been information about the landlord, or maybe something was found there. I don’t know exactly why that house was set on fire.”

Three officers spearheading Gaza fighting confirmed to Haaretz that setting homes on fire has become common practice. A commander of one battalion told his troops last week, as they were wrapping up operations in a specific Gaza area: “Clear your things from the house, and prep it for incineration.”

  • Alteon@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I want to be very clear here - the alarm bells should be going off for people. This is whole thing is genocide… There are 10 Stages of Genocide.

    WE ARE AT STAGE 8.

    1. PERSECUTION: Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious identity. Death lists are drawn up. In state sponsored genocide, members of victim groups may be forced to wear identifying symbols. Their property is often expropriated. Sometimes they are even segregated into ghettoes, deported into concentration camps, or confined to a famine-struck region and starved. They are deliberately deprived of resources such as water or food in order to slowly destroy them. Programs are implemented to prevent procreation through forced sterilization or abortions. Children are forcibly taken from their parents. **The victim group’s basic human rights become systematically abused through extrajudicial killings, torture and forced displacement. **Genocidal massacres begin. They are acts of genocide because they intentionally destroy part of a group. The perpetrators watch for whether such massacres meet any international reaction. If not, they realize that that the international community will again be bystanders and permit another genocide.

      At this stage, a Genocide Emergency must be declared. If the political will of the great powers, regional alliances, or U.N. Security Council or the U.N. General Assembly can be mobilized, armed international intervention should be prepared, or heavy assistance provided to the victim group to prepare for its self-defense. Humanitarian assistance should be organized by the U.N. and private relief groups for the inevitable tide of refugees to come.

    Edit: apparently Lemmy double posted. I’ve removed the lower copy.

    • Womble@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Its fine you guys: the Israelis have decided its legal for Israelis to burn down Palestinian houses that a Hamas fighter once stopped beside to tie his shoelaces.

    • ralphio@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Yeah basically admitting it’s state sanctioned. Should save the South African lawyers some paperwork.