RAMALLAH: As part of lax rules of engagement Israeli forces adopted during the last offensive on Gaza Strip, soldiers were ordered to “open fire also upon rescue” teams.
The daily Haaretz said that a sheet of paper titled “Situational Assessment” handwritten in Hebrew was found by a field researcher of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in the home of Sami Dardone’s family in Jabal Al-Rayes, east of Jabalya, which Israel forces took over during the offensive.
According to Haaretz, the sheet of paper contained the following note: “Rules of Engagement: fire also upon rescue. Not on women and children. Beyond the tantcher — incrimination.”
“Tantcher” is what the Israeli forces call Salah Al-Din — the route that runs the length of the Gaza Strip. The home of the Dardone family is east of the route, so it is possible to assume these are instructions on shooting at anyone crossing the route to the east into areas held by the Israeli forces. A reservist officer who did not take part in the Gaza offensive told Haaretz that the note is part of orders a low-level commander wrote before giving his soldiers their daily briefing.
One of the main themes in news reports during the Gaza operation, and which appears in many testimonies, is that Israeli soldiers shot at Palestinian and Red Cross rescuers, making it impossible to evacuate the wounded and dead. As a result, countless number of Palestinians bled to death as others cowered in their homes for days without medical treatment, waiting to be rescued. The bodies of the dead lay outside the homes or on roadsides for days, sometimes as long as two weeks. Haaretz said that the document found in the house provides written proof that Israeli commanders ordered their troops to shoot at rescuers.
An Israeli military source told Haaretz: “The document that was found is not an official document signed by a particular commander, and as such the army cannot comment on fragments of sentences that were jotted down on a piece of paper and asks that this not be interpreted as directives and instructions that were issued by commanders.”
The reservist officer told Haaretz: “According to the details mentioned in the paper it appears the author was a low-ranking officer who dealt with the affairs of about 30 soldiers —- like organizing their platoon equipment and oiling their weapons.”
Yesterday, Israeli Channel 10 television showed a documentary that included a security briefing by a company commander on the eve of the Gaza invasion.
“We’re going to war,” he told his soldiers. “We’re not doing routine security work or anything like that. I want aggressiveness —- if there’s someone suspicious on the upper floor of a house, we’ll shell it. If we have suspicions about a house, we’ll take it down.”
