DaysofPal – Newly published testimonies by Israeli soldiers and officers who took part in military operations in the Gaza Strip constitute powerful evidence of grave violations that amount to war crimes and even genocide, legal experts say, raising fresh questions about the effectiveness of the international justice system in holding perpetrators to account.
In a report first revealed by the Israeli daily Haaretz, soldiers describe in their own words a pattern of conduct that starkly contradicts the Israeli official narrative of the most moral army in the world.
The accounts include deliberate shootings of unarmed civilians and torture and degrading treatment of detainees, as well as systematic looting and destruction of property.
According to the newspaper, one soldier recounted shooting an elderly man and three children despite facing no threat.
Other soldiers admitted to opening fire on civilians who had raised their hands in surrender, later recording the incidents as the elimination of terrorists.
Testimonies also described civilians being held in cages and urinated on while soldiers laughed, alongside admissions of theft of Palestinian belongings treated as spoils.
Even more alarming, an air force officer acknowledged that some strikes were planned with prior knowledge that children would be among the victims, yet the foreseeable harm to civilians was not treated as a reason to cancel or adjust the attacks.
“These practices are a clear violation of international humanitarian law, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits targeting civilians or subjecting them to humiliating treatment,” said Dr. Raed Badawi, a professor of international relations at the Arab American University in Ramallah, in comments to Palestine Online. Random shooting, field executions, torture and looting of property, he added, all fall under the category of war crimes, particularly when civilians are deliberately targeted without distinction.
Badawi argued that the repeated nature of the abuses, as described by the soldiers themselves, points to a systematic policy rather than isolated excesses, opening the door to an even more serious legal characterization related to genocide, especially in the context of large-scale attacks on Gaza’s civilian population and infrastructure.
From a legal standpoint, the soldiers’ statements amount to “judicial evidence” under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), said Dr. Mohamed Mehran, an Egyptian professor of international law. Speaking to Palestine Online, Mehran noted that Article 69 of the Statute recognizes confessions as among the strongest forms of proof, particularly when they are made voluntarily.
“These testimonies establish the elements of crimes set out in Article 8 on war crimes and may also indicate the presence of the specific intent required for the crime of genocide under Article 6,” he said.
A voluntary confession by the perpetrator, he added, is considered a judicial admission of guilt and is the highest grade of evidence in criminal law, relieving the court of the burden of proving the material element of the crime and making conviction almost inevitable.
Yet despite the evidentiary weight of the confessions, both experts underline that accountability remains far from guaranteed.
If it is proven that the crimes were committed pursuant to military orders, Badawi said, responsibility extends beyond the individual soldiers to political and military leaders under the doctrine of command responsibility.
“The ICC has jurisdiction to examine these crimes,” he said. “But the implementation of its decisions faces major political obstacles, foremost among them U.S. support for Israel and the use of the veto in the UN Security Council, which blocks any effective international action.”
Mehran called on the ICC Prosecutor to act “without delay” under Article 53 of the Rome Statute to open investigations and issue arrest warrants for those responsible, not only at the highest political level but also for commanders of units directly involved in the abuses.
He also urged wider use of universal jurisdiction, which allows courts in countries such as Belgium and Spain to prosecute perpetrators of international crimes regardless of where they occurred.
“Lawyers representing families of Palestinian victims now possess an almost irrefutable legal weapon,” Mehran said, encouraging them to incorporate the soldiers’ confessions into existing and future complaints in foreign and international courts.
Despite the strength of the evidence, Badawi warned that a “structural paralysis” in the international system continues to shield states backed by major powers from the consequences of their actions, leaving justice “hostage to political balances.”
Transforming these confessions into enforceable judicial rulings, he said, remains the core challenge.
Even so, both experts stressed that the testimonies have significant strategic value. Beyond their use in ICC proceedings, they can bolster diplomatic efforts, support documentation by UN bodies and human rights organizations, and strengthen global advocacy campaigns demanding accountability.
The soldiers’ admissions from Gaza depict a battlefield reality that sharply contradicts official Israeli discourse and place the international community before a crucial test of its professed commitment to justice and the rule of law.
While the confessions offer rare, first-hand evidence from perpetrators themselves, the ultimate measure of their impact will be whether they help break the entrenched cycle of impunity and lead to concrete steps to secure redress for victims and prosecution of those responsible.
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