Israel's Gaza Tactics Condemned By Troops

Israel has been condemned again following another investigation of its conduct during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in January, this time by its own soldiers.

Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers, interviewed 30 veterans of the Gaza offensive.

Their testimony corroborates other claims that Israelis were given permissive rules of engagement that caused enormous damage to civilians and their property.

"At any obstacle, any problem, we open fire and don't ask questions," claimed one anonymous sergeant in the Israeli Armoured Corps.

"Even if it's firing in the dark, firing aimed at unknown target, firing when we don't see, deterrent fire, no problem with that, etc.

"A vehicle that's in the way - crush it, a building in the way - shoot at it. This was the spirit which was repeated throughout the training."

Israeli soldiers on top of tanks

Yehuda Shaul, one of the report's authors said Israel's actions were unacceptable.

There was, he said, "The concept of 'we don't put our troops in danger, we don't take any risks, we prefer the mistakes to be on their body count than on ours'.

"These are actual sentences that were said by battalion officers, by company officers, in the briefings that soldiers received before they went into Gaza."

Hundreds of Palestinian civilians died in the offensive. At the time Israel blamed the death toll on Hamas for using civilians as human shields.

But it is now being claimed Israelis routinely used Palestinians as human shields themselves.

"In some cases" said one sergeant with the Golani Infantry Brigade, "there was actually entrance with the civilian, who would walk in front of the soldier while the soldier places his gun barrel on the civilian's shoulder."

This latest catalogue of alleged abuses has been rejected by Israeli military spokeswoman Major Avital Leibovitch.

"The IDF Spokesperson Unit regrets the fact that yet another human rights organisation is presenting to Israel and the world a report based on anonymous and general testimonies, without fully investigating their details or credibility," she said.