[News] Israeli soldiers admit killing Palestinians in Gaza 'no matter the age, even if unarmed'

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Israeli soldiers admit killing Palestinians in Gaza 'no matter the age,
even if unarmed'

Israeli soldiers and snipers have targeted Palestinian men, women, and
children throughout more than two years of genocide

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

MAY 11, 2026 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-soldiers-admit-killing-palestinians-in-gaza-no-matter-the-age-even-if-unarmed
(Photo credit: Khamis Al-Rifi/Reuters)

The Israeli army ordered its troops to kill any males they encountered in
Gaza, including the unarmed and the elderly, during the genocide of
Palestinians that began in 2023, according
<https://13tv.co.il/allshows/series/27/season/25/4400266/?pid=1027884&refc=904992216>
to a 7 May investigative report aired on Israel’s Channel 13.

“A man, no matter what age, don’t play games with it; kill immediately,”
one soldier said he was told by his commanders.

“They even told us that if it’s a woman or a child, use your judgment,
because things happen,” he added, speaking anonymously.

His testimony was given to Iris Haim, the mother of an Israeli soldier
taken captive by Hamas on 7 October 2023.

Yotam Haim was killed
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-israel-mistakenly-shoots-dead-three-hostages-northern-gaza>
by Israeli forces in Gaza after approaching their positions during an
attempt to escape alongside two other captives in December 2023.

The three Israeli captives were shirtless and waving white flags to
indicate they were not a threat to the soldiers.

However, the soldiers opened fire and killed them anyway, apparently
thinking they were Palestinian civilians.

The incident suggested that Israeli troops were implementing a “shoot to
kill” policy against Palestinian males, including unarmed civilians.

The soldier speaking anonymously to Channel 13 revealed that he was one of
the soldiers who shot and killed Yotam Haim and the other two Israeli
captives during the incident.

“I fire 500 bullets a minute. I blow things up. I don’t care. I’m here to
kill terrorists,” he stated, describing his state of mind during his tour
in Gaza.

“There are three terrorists, I’ll kill them. Then I realized two had
already been killed, and one had escaped.”

Haim's mother said that the soldiers had effectively been ordered to “kill
every person walking on two legs.”

“If a terrorist moves toward me, I try to kill him. I do not try to arrest
him,” the commander of the brigade that killed her son told her.

 “Of course, we need to kill him – yes, even if he is completely unarmed.”

Another soldier told Channel 13 that troops were instructed to view any
Palestinian as a threat.

“Even an old man can blow himself up with an explosive device. The protocol
was to shoot them,” he said, adding that “there was a situation where a
person came out with a white flag and was shot on the spot.”

Israeli snipers in Gaza have regularly targeted Palestinian civilians,
including women and children, in a deliberate manner.

The first major case to break headlines in western media was the murder of
two Christian women at Gaza City’s Holy Family Church on 16 December 2023.
A Palestinian Catholic mother and her daughter were killed
<https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/16/middleeast/idf-sniper-gaza-church-deaths-intl-hnk/index.html>
by an Israeli sniper while seeking refuge inside the church compound,
resulting in condemnation from the pope.

In January 2024, British broadcaster ITV captured the moment when
51-year-old Ramzi Abu Sahloul was shot through the chest
<https://www.pbs.org/video/war-in-the-holy-land-1706138139/>, only moments
after he had spoken on air. Sahloul was part of a group of civilians who
were fleeing to Rafah in Gaza’s south while holding white flags on the
orders of the Israeli military.

A British surgeon who traveled to Gaza to volunteer reported that Israeli
snipers regularly targeted Palestinian women and children.

“Looking back, it is the images of injured children that will never leave
me. One evening, I operated on seven-year-old Amer, who had been shot by
one of the drones that descend immediately after a bombing to pick off
those who are running away, all civilians,” stated
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/02/surgeon-gaza-children-britain-sniper-fire-drones-labour-arms-israel>
British surgeon Nizam Mamode to *The Guardian* after his return to London
in February 2025.

“He had sustained injuries to his liver, spleen, and bowel, and had part of
his stomach protruding through his chest. I was so glad to see him survive.
But we saw patients like him every day, and most were not so lucky,” Mamode
explained.

Particularly disturbing were the cases in which the children were killed
with a “bullet to the head, which was clearly the result of deliberate
sniper fire,” he added.

Israeli forces have killed more than 72,700 Palestinians in Gaza during the
two-year genocide, the majority of whom were women and children. Thousands
more remain missing and are believed to be buried beneath the rubble.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are expected to die from the indirect
effects of the war, including from Israel’s destruction of the strip’s
medical, water, and electricity infrastructure.
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