Report: Extensive building demolition without operational necessity in preparation for the expulsion of Gazans

Nearly ten Israeli soldiers who participated in the war on the Gaza Strip reported that "the Israeli army is systematically demolishing residential and public buildings in the Gaza Strip, as well as buildings on agricultural land. This demolition has become an integral part of the army's modus operandi, and in many cases, it has been a goal in itself and the army's central mission," according to a report published by the "Local Conversation" website.

One soldier said, "I guarded four or five bulldozers. On the two days I guarded the bulldozers, they demolished 60 homes a day. They would demolish a one- or two-story home in an hour."

A three- or four-story building takes a little longer. The official mission was to open a logistical hub for the invasion, but in reality, bulldozers simply demolished the houses. The southeastern part of Rafah is completely destroyed. The horizon is flat. There is no city.

The Israeli military claims it demolishes buildings housing Hamas fighters or Hamas infrastructure that pose a threat to Israeli forces. However, since the beginning of last year, "The Hottest Place in Hell," a left-wing Israeli website, has reported that the army is carrying out "a systematic and complete demolition of all buildings close to the fence and within a kilometer of the Strip, without intelligence or field soldiers identifying them as terrorist sites, with the aim of creating a buffer zone."

The report noted that an analysis of satellite images conducted last week showed that the Israeli military controls 129 square kilometers, or 35% of the Gaza Strip's area, which it describes as a "buffer zone." The military thus describes the area between the "Morag axis" and the border with Egypt, where the city of Rafah is located, or "practically located."

The report quoted a soldier who participated in the war as saying, "There was no justification for demolishing buildings, as they do not threaten Israel. This is not related to defending military sites." While the Israeli army claims that the goal of the demolitions is to prevent Hamas forces from being present in the buildings, "many soldiers understood that what they were actually doing was 'leveling buildings to the ground,' in order to ensure that 'the return of residents to these areas will not happen.' These things were sometimes said explicitly by officers, and at other times they were understood from the atmosphere as a result of direct statements made by Israeli politicians."

The report noted that the Israeli army does not advance into areas where residents remain, and that it is the bombing that leads to the massive number of martyrs, while "the systematic demolition of buildings in cities is paving the way for ethnic cleansing in the Strip, which in Israeli political parlance today is described as 'the realization of Trump's vision.'"

Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said after the war resumed last March that "the evacuation of residents from combat zones will soon begin again, and Israel will act with a force you have never seen before. Accept the American president's advice. Return the kidnapped soldiers and expel Hamas, and other options will open up for you, including leaving for other parts of the world for those who wish to do so. The alternative is total demolition and destruction."

"We are demolishing more homes, and there is nowhere for them to return to," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last week. "The only desired outcome will be for Gazans to want to emigrate. Our main problem is which countries will receive them."

The report quoted a former Israeli security official as saying, "I received reports from field officers about operations that were not operationally necessary: demolishing homes, forcing tens or hundreds of thousands of residents to leave. They said that D9 forces were operating that were not under their command."

The officers told me, 'This makes us war criminals.' Demolishing a building because a terrorist is hiding in it is legal, but I received information that forces entered and systematically demolished buildings in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya. I don't know what percentage of these were non-operational demolitions, but there were a lot of them."

"These are two war crimes," human rights lawyer Michael Sfard explained. "Destruction of property not for military necessity constitutes a war crime, and there is a specific, more serious war crime of widespread destruction of property without military justification. There is a broad debate among legal experts, human rights activists, and academia about whether 'domination'—the destruction of an area used for human habitation—should be considered a crime against humanity. Crimes against humanity are widespread attacks on a civilian population," he was quoted as saying in the report.