The article “‘It’s a killing field’: IDF soldiers ordered to shoot deliberately at unarmed Gazans waiting for humanitarian aid” in the left-wing Israeli paper Ha’aretz contains “contemptible blood libels,” stated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday.
“These are malicious falsehoods designed to defame the IDF, the most moral military in the world,” the Israeli leaders said.
The Israel Defense Forces “operates in difficult conditions against a terrorist enemy that operates out of a civilian population and hides behind it, using it as human shields, and uses a complete industry of lies to harm the legitimacy of the State of Israel,” the two continued.
“The soldiers of the IDF receive clear orders to avoid harming innocents and operate accordingly,” they said. “Israel calls on all of the free and democratic countries to stand alongside it in its just and moral fight against the murderous Hamas terrorist organization.”
The Ha’aretz article cites anonymous Israeli soldiers and officers, who it says accused the IDF of firing on Gazans who posed no danger to them.
The Israeli military has said that it fires warning shots in certain instances and that it has identified suspicious people among the aid seekers.
While Israel’s Military Advocate General ordered an investigation into the allegations on Friday, the IDF has denied the claims made in the article, stating, “IDF directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians.”
