Israeli soldiers' testimonies: The army deliberately ordered the shooting of aid seekers.

Israeli officers and soldiers reported that the Israeli army ordered its forces to deliberately fire at Gazans near humanitarian aid distribution sites over the past month, claiming to remove or disperse them, even though it was clear that these Gazans posed no threat, according to what the newspaper Haaretz reported on Friday.

"The story is that there is a complete lack of weapon purity in Gaza," one soldier said. The Israeli military prosecution claims it has asked the General Staff's Investigation Department to investigate suspected war crimes in aid distribution areas, according to the newspaper.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) oversees the distribution of aid at four centers in the Gaza Strip. The foundation began operating approximately five weeks ago, but the circumstances of its establishment are questionable. Israel established it in collaboration with evangelicals in the United States and private security companies. The foundation's current general manager is an evangelical leader close to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The centers operate under Israeli military protection.

The centers are open for one hour a day and operate in an unorganized manner. The newspaper quoted Israeli officers and soldiers as saying that the Israeli army fires at Gazans who arrive at aid distribution centers before they open or after they close.

Soldiers who spoke to the newspaper believe that Gazans who arrive at the centers before they open, in the early hours of the morning, cannot see their boundaries due to the darkness. An Israeli soldier described the situation as an "execution field," saying, "In the place I was, between one and five people were killed every day. They shoot at them like an assault force. They don't use riot control means, they don't fire tear gas, they fire from heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortar shells. They stop shooting after the centers open, and the residents know they can approach. We communicate with them through fire."

The soldier added, "They open fire early in the morning if someone wants to stand in line hundreds of meters away, and sometimes they attack them from close range, but there is no danger to the forces. I don't know of any instance where there was any shooting from the other side. There is no enemy and no weapons." He said he calls this Israeli army crime "Operation Feseekh," referring to the salted fish.

The newspaper quoted Israeli officers as confirming that the Israeli military does not publish documentation of events at aid distribution sites, and that the military is "satisfied" that GHF's activity prevented a complete collapse of international legitimacy for the continuation of the war. They believe that the Israeli military "succeeded in turning the Gaza Strip into a backyard, especially in the wake of the war in Iran."

A reserve soldier said, "Gaza no longer matters to anyone. It has become a place with its own laws. Human deaths are nothing, not even a 'regrettable accident' as they used to say."

"Operating against a population, when your only means of dealing with them is to open fire, is very problematic," an Israeli officer said. "It is morally incorrect to enter an area with tank fire, sniper fire, and mortar shells."

The same officer explained that there are guard rings around the aid distribution centers, and that the Israeli army is prohibited from entering these centers and on the roads leading to them. Palestinian organizers are present in the ring next to them, some of whom are armed and belong to the Abu Shabab militia. The Israeli army's guard ring includes tanks, snipers, and mortars, ostensibly to protect those present and allow aid distribution.

“At night, we fire to make it clear to the residents that this is a combat zone and that they should not approach it,” the same officer added. “At a certain point, the mortar fire stops, and then the residents begin to approach. Then we resume firing to let them know that it is forbidden to approach. Eventually, we observed shells falling among groups of people. In other cases, we fired tank rounds and threw grenades, and a group of citizens who approached under the cover of fog were hit.” He claimed that “this is not intentional, but things like this happen.”

The officer continued that residents don't know when the aid distribution centers will open. "I don't know who makes the decisions, but we give orders to residents and they don't implement them, or they change. There were instances at the beginning of the month when they told us they had issued statements about opening the center at noon, and residents arrived early in the morning to be the first to receive food. Because they arrived early, the aid distribution was canceled that day."