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AP – Hudah Shaer, the wife of former Palestinian Authority Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer from Hamas, … JERUSALEM – Israel's defense minister promised Thursday to investigate reports that soldiers recounted how some troops opened fire too hastily and killed Palestinian civilians during the recent Gaza war, believing they would not be held to account under relaxed rules of engagement.
The soldiers gave their accounts at a get-together with students at a military preparatory institute. The transcript of the session appeared this week in a newsletter the institute publishes, newspapers reported.
According to one of the published accounts reported by the Haaretz and Maariv dailies, an Israeli sniper killed a Palestinian woman and her two children after they misunderstood another soldier's order and turned the wrong way. The sniper was not told the civilians had been released from the house where they had been confined and he opened fire when they approached him, according to his standing orders.
"The climate in general, from what I understood from most of my men whom I talked to, was ... the lives of Palestinians, let's say, are far less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they're concerned, they can justify it that way," an infantry squad leader was quoted as saying.
Heavy civilian casualties and widespread devastation of property during the three-week war provoked an international outcry against Israel, which halted its fire on Jan. 18. Palestinians say over half of the more than 1,300 Gazans killed were civilians, but Israel disputes the civilian toll.
The soldiers' accounts echo Palestinian allegations and could help human rights groups trying to build a case that Israel violated the laws of war.
Rights groups say Israel used disproportionate force and failed to protect civilians. In one case, Israeli artillery fire hit near a U.N. school where hundreds of Gazans had sought refuge, killing 42. Israeli said it responded to militant fire originating nearby.
Israel also has been criticized for using white phosphorus weapons. The weapons can be legitimately used in war, but critics say its use over populated areas can indiscriminately burn civilians and constitutes a war crime.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak defended the military's wartime conduct overall but said the newspaper reports published Thursday would be investigated.
Israel "has the most ethical army in the world," Barak told Israel Radio. "That doesn't mean there are no exceptions," he added. "I have no doubt that it will be checked carefully."
In another account given at the military institute, an elderly Palestinian woman was shot dead while she was walking on a road, even though she was close enough for the soldiers to see whether she posed a threat, Maariv said. Haaretz, too, reported that the woman was shot at a range of 100 yards.
Soldiers also reported large-scale destruction of Palestinian property.
"We would throw everything out of the windows to make room and order," Maariv quoted a soldier as saying. "Everything in the house was tossed out the windows: Refrigerators, plates, furniture. The order was to throw all of the house's contents outside."
The military said it was not aware of the incidents the soldiers reported but that its top lawyer has ordered the criminal investigation division of the military police to probe the claims.
Israel has acknowledged loosening its rules of engagement in Gaza to reduce military casualties. As a result, ground troops moved under heavy covering fire from tanks and artillery that flattened entire neighborhoods.
At the same time, Israel has blamed the high civilian death toll on Hamas militiamen fighting from civilian areas such as homes, schools and mosques.
Yaakov Amidror, a former chief of Israel's military academies, told Army Radio that in war, not all situations are clear-cut, and if it comes down to a choice between soldiers being killed and killing people on the other side, "you must make a very cold choice and kill the other side."
But "if you see a woman and two children in the crosshairs, it's pretty clear - there is almost no case in the world that would justify pulling the trigger," Amidror said.
The head of the military institute, Danny Zamir, told Haaretz he was shocked by the soldiers' accounts and contacted military chief Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi afterward because he feared a serious ethical lapse in the military. Zamir did not immediately return calls to The Associated Press on Thursday.
Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers have not cemented their informal, Jan. 18 cease-fire with a long-term truce.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians
