Gaza Herald— Israeli occupation forces knowingly risked killing as many as 300 Palestinians and deliberately refrained from evacuating inhabited buildings before devastating Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp in October 2023 in order to assassinate a single Hamas military leader, according to testimonies from Israeli soldiers reported by Haaretz.
The testimonies from four soldiers provide disturbing new details about the October 31, 2023 bloody attack on Jabalia, which flattened residential buildings and killed and wounded hundreds of Palestinians.
One soldier said the target was Ibrahim Biari, a leader in Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades. Israeli forces believed Biari was somewhere in tunnels beneath several large residential buildings but did not know his precise location.
“So they selected several buildings that were still inhabited, and it was decided to bring down all the buildings above the tunnel where he was located,” the soldier said.
“We did not carry out an evacuation because it was important to kill him without giving him a chance to escape.”
Another soldier said Israeli military assessments indicated before the attack that between 250 and 300 Palestinians could be killed. Because of the anticipated toll, the decision was referred to the Israeli military chief of staff, who approved the attack, according to the testimony.
“I remember being shocked when several densely populated buildings were flattened, killing and wounding hundreds, just to eliminate a battalion commander,” the soldier said.
The testimonies challenge repeated Israeli claims that its military takes extensive precautions to minimise civilian casualties in Gaza. They indicate that commanders were aware of the presence of civilians, anticipated an extraordinarily high death toll and nevertheless authorised the attack.
Nadav Weiman, executive director of Israeli anti-occupation organisation Breaking the Silence, said the accounts demand accountability.
“You cannot approve the possible killing of 300 civilians in order to assassinate a battalion commander and then claim that you are making efforts to avoid harming innocent people,” Weiman said.
Jabalia Devastated
On October 31, 2023, Israeli warplanes struck Block 6 in the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, destroying a large residential area where Palestinians, including displaced families, were sheltering.
Palestinian authorities reported at the time that hundreds of people were killed or wounded, while others remained missing beneath the rubble. Entire families were among the casualties.
The new testimonies are particularly significant because they suggest the scale of potential civilian casualties was not an unforeseen consequence discovered after the bombs fell. According to the soldiers, the anticipated toll was discussed before the attack and escalated through the military chain of command for approval.
The accounts also indicate that civilians were not evacuated because Israeli forces feared doing so could alert Biari and allow him to escape.
For Breaking the Silence, the revelations point beyond an isolated battlefield error to broader questions about Israeli targeting policies and the value assigned to Palestinian civilian life during the war on Gaza.
More than three years after Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza, the Jabalia testimonies add to mounting evidence and reports concerning attacks on densely populated civilian areas and the enormous civilian toll of Israeli military operations.
For the families whose relatives were buried beneath Jabalia’s destroyed buildings, however, the soldiers’ accounts reveal an especially devastating detail: the possibility that hundreds of Palestinians could be killed was reportedly known before the attack was authorised.
