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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">‘A mass assassination factory’: Inside Israel’s calculated bombing of Gaza</h1>
<div class="gmail-byline"> <span class="gmail-prefix">By </span><a class="gmail-author" title="Yuval Abraham" href="https://www.972mag.com/writer/yuval-abraham/">Yuval Abraham</a> <span class="gmail-date">November 30, 2023</span>
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<p><span>The Israeli army’s expanded authorization for bombing
non-military targets, the loosening of constraints regarding expected
civilian casualties, and the use of an artificial intelligence system to
generate more potential targets than ever before, appear to have
contributed to the destructive nature of the initial stages of Israel’s
current war on the Gaza Strip, an investigation by +972 Magazine and
Local Call reveals. These factors, as described by current and former
Israeli intelligence members, have likely played a role in producing
what has been one of the deadliest military campaigns against
Palestinians since the Nakba of 1948.</span></p>
<p><span>The investigation by +972 and Local Call is based on
conversations with seven current and former members of Israel’s
intelligence community — including military intelligence and air force
personnel who were involved in Israeli operations in the besieged Strip —
in addition to Palestinian testimonies, data, and documentation from
the Gaza Strip, and official statements by the IDF Spokesperson and
other Israeli state institutions.</span></p>
<p><span>Compared to previous Israeli assaults on Gaza, </span><a href="https://www.972mag.com/topic/october-2023-war/"><span>the current war</span></a><span>
— which Israel has named “Operation Iron Swords,” and which began in
the wake of the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7 — has
seen the army significantly expand its bombing of targets that are not
distinctly military in nature. These include private residences as well
as public buildings, infrastructure, and high-rise blocks, which sources
say the army defines as “</span><a href="https://www.israeldefense.co.il/node/37949"><span>power targets</span></a><span>” (“</span><i><span>matarot otzem</span></i><span>”).</span></p>
<p><span>The bombing of power targets, according to intelligence sources
who had first-hand experience with its application in Gaza in the past,
is mainly intended to harm Palestinian civil society: to “create a
shock” that, among other things, will reverberate powerfully and “lead
civilians to put pressure on Hamas,” as one source put it.</span></p>
<p><span>Several of the sources, who spoke to +972 and Local Call on the
condition of anonymity, confirmed that the Israeli army has files on
the vast majority of potential targets in Gaza — including homes — which
stipulate the number of civilians who are likely to be killed in an
attack on a particular target. This number is calculated and known in
advance to the army’s intelligence units, who also know shortly before
carrying out an attack roughly how many civilians are certain to be
killed.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175473" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231111ARK11.jpg"><img title="Palestinians react to the devastation caused by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, November 11, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231111ARK11-1280x853.jpg" alt="Palestinians react to the devastation caused by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, November 11, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Palestinians
react to the devastation caused by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah,
southern Gaza Strip, November 11, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>In one case discussed by the sources, the Israeli military
command knowingly approved the killing of hundreds of Palestinian
civilians in an attempt to assassinate a single top Hamas military
commander. “The numbers increased from dozens of civilian deaths
[permitted] as collateral damage as part of an attack on a senior
official in previous operations, to hundreds of civilian deaths as
collateral damage,” said one source.</span></p>
<p><span>“Nothing happens by accident,” said another source. “When a
3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the
army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a
price worth paying in order to hit [another] target. We are not Hamas.
These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly
how much collateral damage there is in every home.”</span></p>
<p><span>According to the investigation, another reason for the large
number of targets, and the extensive harm to civilian life in Gaza, is
the widespread use of a system called “Habsora” (“The Gospel”), which is
largely built on artificial intelligence and can “generate” targets
almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously
possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer,
essentially facilitates a </span><span>“mass assassination factory.”</span></p>
<p><span>According to the sources, the increasing use of AI-based
systems like Habsora allows the army to carry out strikes on residential
homes where a single Hamas member lives on a massive scale, even those
who are junior Hamas operatives. Yet testimonies of Palestinians in Gaza
suggest that since October 7, the army has also attacked many private
residences where there was no known or apparent member of Hamas or any
other militant group residing. Such strikes, sources confirmed to +972
and Local Call, can knowingly kill entire families in the process.</span></p>
<p><span>In the majority of cases, the sources added, military activity
is not conducted from these targeted homes. “I remember thinking that it
was like if [Palestinian militants] would bomb all the private
residences of our families when [Israeli soldiers] go back to sleep at
home on the weekend,” one source, who was critical of this practice,
recalled.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175471" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231111ARK07.jpg"><img title="Palestinians at the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, November 11, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231111ARK07-1280x853.jpg" alt="Palestinians at the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, November 11, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Palestinians
at the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Rafah,
southern Gaza Strip, November 11, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>Another source said that a senior intelligence officer told his
officers after October 7 that the goal was to “kill as many Hamas
operatives as possible,” for which the criteria around harming
Palestinian civilians were significantly relaxed. As such, there are
“cases in which we shell based on a wide cellular pinpointing of where
the target is, killing civilians. This is often done to save time,
instead of doing a little more work to get a more accurate pinpointing,”
said the source.</span></p>
<p><span>The result of these policies is the staggering loss of human
life in Gaza since October 7. Over 300 families have lost 10 or more
family members in Israeli bombings in the past two months — a number
that is 15 times higher than the figure from what was previously
Israel’s deadliest war on Gaza, in 2014. At the time of writing, around </span><span>15,000 </span><span>Palestinians have been reported killed in the war, and counting.</span></p>
<p><span>“All of this is happening contrary to the protocol used by the
IDF in the past,” a source explained. “There is a feeling that senior
officials in the army are aware of their failure on October 7, and are
busy with the question of how to provide the Israeli public with an
image [of victory] that will salvage their reputation.”</span></p>
<h3>‘An excuse to cause destruction’</h3>
<p><span>Israel launched its assault on Gaza in the aftermath of the </span><a href="https://www.972mag.com/october-war-israelis-palestinians-historic/"><span>October 7</span></a><span>
Hamas-led offensive on southern Israel. During that attack, under a
hail of rocket fire, Palestinian militants massacred more than 840
civilians and killed 350 soldiers and security personnel, kidnapped
around 240 people — civilians and soldiers — to Gaza, and committed
widespread sexual violence, including rape, according to </span><a href="https://www.phr.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/5771_Sexual_Violence_paper_Eng-final.pdf"><span>a report</span></a><span> by the NGO Physicians for Human Rights Israel.</span></p>
<p><span>From the first moment after the October 7 attack,
decisionmakers in Israel openly declared that the response would be of a
completely different magnitude to previous military operations in Gaza,
with the stated aim of totally eradicating Hamas. “The emphasis is on
damage and not on accuracy,” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/10/right-now-it-is-one-day-at-a-time-life-on-israels-frontline-with-gaza">said</a> IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Oct. 9. The army swiftly translated those declarations into actions.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175498" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231028POOLDK08-1.jpg"><img title="Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Minister without Portfolio Benny Gantz hold a joint press conference at the Defense Ministry, Tel Aviv, November 11, 2023. (Marc Israel Sellem/POOL)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231028POOLDK08-1-1280x853.jpg" alt="Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Minister without Portfolio Benny Gantz hold a joint press conference at the Defense Ministry, Tel Aviv, November 11, 2023. (Marc Israel Sellem/POOL)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and
Minister without Portfolio Benny Gantz hold a joint press conference at
the Defense Ministry, Tel Aviv, November 11, 2023. (Marc Israel
Sellem/POOL)</p>
</div>
<p><span>According to the sources who spoke to +972 and Local Call, the
targets in Gaza that have been struck by Israeli aircraft can be divided
roughly into four categories. The first is “tactical targets,” which
include standard military targets such as armed militant cells, weapon
warehouses, rocket launchers, anti-tank missile launchers, launch pits,
mortar bombs, military headquarters, observation posts, and so on.</span></p>
<p><span>The second is “underground targets” — mainly tunnels that Hamas
has dug under Gaza’s neighborhoods, including under civilian homes.
Aerial strikes on these targets could lead to the collapse of the homes
above or near the tunnels.</span></p>
<p><span>The third is “power targets,” which includes high-rises and
residential towers in the heart of cities, and public buildings such as
universities, banks, and government offices. The idea behind hitting
such targets, say three intelligence sources who were involved in
planning or conducting strikes on power targets in the past, is that a
deliberate attack on Palestinian society will exert “civil pressure” on
Hamas.</span></p>
<p><span>The final category consists of “family homes” or “operatives’
homes.” The stated purpose of these attacks is to destroy private
residences in order to assassinate a single resident suspected of being a
Hamas or Islamic Jihad operative. However, in the current war,
Palestinian testimonies assert that some of the families that were
killed did not include any operatives from these organizations.</span></p>
<p><span>In the early stages of the current war, the Israeli army
appears to have given particular attention to the third and fourth
categories of targets. According to </span><a href="https://www.maariv.co.il/breaking-news/Article-1044157"><span>statements</span></a><span>
on Oct. 11 by the IDF Spokesperson, during the first five days of
fighting, half of the targets bombed — 1,329 out of a total 2,687 — were
deemed power targets.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175485" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231128AM08.jpg"><img title="Palestinians walk next to the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, November 28, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231128AM08-1280x853.jpg" alt="Palestinians walk next to the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, November 28, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Palestinians
walk next to the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in
Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, November 28, 2023. (Atia
Mohammed/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>“We are asked to look for high-rise buildings with half a floor
that can be attributed to Hamas,” said one source who took part in
previous Israeli offensives in Gaza. “Sometimes it is a militant group’s
spokesperson’s office, or a point where operatives meet. I understood
that the floor is an excuse that allows the army to cause a lot of
destruction in Gaza. That is what they told us.</span></p>
<p><span>“If they would tell the whole world that the [Islamic Jihad]
offices on the 10th floor are not important as a target, but that its
existence is a justification to bring down the entire high-rise with the
aim of pressuring civilian families who live in it in order to put
pressure on terrorist organizations, this would itself be seen as
terrorism. So they do not say it,” the source added.</span></p>
<p><span>Various sources who served in IDF intelligence units said that
at least until the current war, army protocols allowed for attacking
power targets only when the buildings were empty of residents at the
time of the strike. However, testimonies and videos from Gaza suggest
that since October 7, some of these targets have been attacked without
prior notice being given to their occupants, killing entire families as a
result.</span></p>
<p><span>The wide-scale targeting of residential homes can be derived
from public and official data. According to the Government Media Office
in Gaza — which has been providing death tolls since the Gaza Health
Ministry stopped doing so on Nov. 11 due to the </span><a href="https://www.972mag.com/gaza-health-system-hospitals-collapse/"><span>collapse of health services</span></a><span> in the Strip — by the time the temporary ceasefire took hold on Nov. 23, Israel had </span><a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-50"><span>killed</span></a><span>
14,800 Palestinians in Gaza; approximately 6,000 of them were children
and 4,000 were women, who together constitute more than 67 percent of
the total. The figures provided by the Health Ministry and the
Government Media Office — both of which fall under the auspices of the
Hamas government — </span><a href="https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/2023-11-24/ty-article/.highlight/0000018b-fdfd-de0a-a18f-fffda0a00000"><span>do not deviate significantly</span></a><span> from Israeli estimates.</span></p>
<p><span>The Gaza Health Ministry, furthermore, does not specify how
many of the dead belonged to the military wings of Hamas or Islamic
Jihad. The Israeli army estimates that it has killed between </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/26/idf-messaging-suggests-gaza-truce-unlikely-to-last-much-beyond-tuesday"><span>1,000</span></a><span> and </span><a href="https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/2023-11-14/ty-article/.highlight/0000018b-ca7f-dd30-a5ff-effff7640000"><span>3,000</span></a><span>
armed Palestinian militants. According to media reports in Israel, some
of the dead militants are buried under the rubble or inside Hamas’
underground tunnel system, and therefore were not tallied in official
counts.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175479" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231117ARK97.jpg"><img title="Palestinians try to put out a fire after an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Shaboura refugee camp in the city of Rafah, southern of the Gaza Strip, on November 17, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231117ARK97-1280x853.jpg" alt="Palestinians try to put out a fire after an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Shaboura refugee camp in the city of Rafah, southern of the Gaza Strip, on November 17, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Palestinians
try to put out a fire after an Israeli airstrike on a house in the
Shaboura refugee camp in the city of Rafah, southern of the Gaza Strip,
on November 17, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>UN </span><a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-35"><span>data</span></a><span>
for the period up until Nov. 11, by which time Israel had killed 11,078
Palestinians in Gaza, states that at least 312 families have lost 10 or
more people in the current Israeli attack; for the sake of comparison,
during “Operation Protective Edge” in 2014, 20 families in Gaza lost 10
or more people. At least 189 families have lost between six and nine
people according to the UN data, while 549 families have lost between
two and five people. No updated breakdowns have yet been given for the
casualty figures published since Nov. 11.</span></p>
<p><span>The massive attacks on power targets and private residences came at the same time as the Israeli army, on Oct. 13, </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-war-c8b4fc20e4fd2ef381d5edb7e9e8308c"><span>called</span></a><span>
on the 1.1 million residents of the northern Gaza Strip — most of them
residing in Gaza City — to leave their homes and move to the south of
the Strip. By that date, a record number of power targets had already
been bombed, and more than 1,000 Palestinians had already been </span><a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-8"><span>killed</span></a><span>, including hundreds of children.</span></p>
<p><span>In total, according to the UN, 1.7 million Palestinians, the
vast majority of the Strip’s population, have been displaced within Gaza
since October 7. The army claimed that the demand to evacuate the
Strip’s north was intended to protect civilian lives. Palestinians,
however, see this mass displacement as part of a “new Nakba” — an
attempt to ethnically cleanse part or all of the territory.</span></p>
<h3>‘They knocked down a high-rise for the sake of it’</h3>
<p><span>According to the Israeli army, during the first five days of fighting it dropped </span><a href="https://www.ynet.co.il/blogs/gazawar6eve/article/rj4wutsbt"><span>6,000 bombs</span></a><span> on the Strip, with a total weight of about 4,000 tons. Media outlets reported that the army had </span><a href="https://www.srugim.co.il/850244-%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A6%D7%90%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%94-%D7%A6%D7%94%D7%9C-%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%A7-%D7%A9%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%A2"><span>wiped out</span></a> <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-767706"><span>entire neighborhoods</span><span>;</span></a><span> according to the Gaza-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, these </span><a href="https://www.mezan.org/en/archive/2/Press-Releases"><span>attacks</span></a><span>
led to “the complete destruction of residential neighborhoods, the
destruction of infrastructure, and the mass killing of residents.” </span></p>
<p><span>As documented by Al Mezan and numerous images coming out of
Gaza, Israel bombed the Islamic University of Gaza, the Palestinian Bar
Association, a </span><a href="https://news.yahoo.com/un-educational-building-gaza-destroyed-144952127.html"><span>UN building</span></a><span>
for an educational program for outstanding students, a building
belonging to the Palestine Telecommunications Company, the Ministry of
National Economy, the Ministry of Culture, roads, and dozens of
high-rise buildings and homes — especially in Gaza’s northern
neighborhoods.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175487" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/main_image52227_m6L9jLbtGd.jpg"><img title="The ruins of Al-Amin Muhammad Mosque which was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on October 20, Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/main_image52227_m6L9jLbtGd-1280x853.jpg" alt="The ruins of Al-Amin Muhammad Mosque which was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on October 20, Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>The
ruins of Al-Amin Muhammad Mosque which was destroyed in an Israeli
airstrike on October 20, Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip,
October 31, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)</p>
</div>
<p><span>On the fifth day of fighting, the IDF Spokesperson distributed to military reporters in Israel “before and after” </span><a href="https://www.ynet.co.il/blogs/gazawar5day/article/h1endhqz6"><span>satellite images</span></a><span>
of neighborhoods in the northern Strip, such as Shuja’iyya and
Al-Furqan (nicknamed after a mosque in the area) in Gaza City, which
showed dozens of destroyed homes and buildings. The Israeli army said
that it had struck 182 power targets in Shuja’iyya and 312 power targets
in Al-Furqan.</span></p>
<p><span>The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Air Force, Omer Tishler, </span><a href="https://www.maariv.co.il/breaking-news/Article-1044157"><span>told</span></a><span>
military reporters that all of these attacks had a legitimate military
target, but also that entire neighborhoods were attacked “on a large
scale and not in a surgical manner.” Noting that half of the military
targets up until Oct. 11 were power targets, the IDF Spokesperson said
that “neighborhoods that serve as terror nests for Hamas” were attacked
and that damage was caused to “operational headquarters,” “operational
assets,” and “assets used by terrorist organizations inside residential
buildings.” On Oct. 12, the Israeli army announced it had killed three “</span><a href="https://www.ynet.co.il/blogs/warday4m/article/sk6f9tmz6"><span>senior</span></a> <a href="https://www.maariv.co.il/breaking-news/Article-1044352"><span>Hamas members</span></a><span>” — two of whom were part of the group’s political wing.</span></p>
<p><span>Yet despite the unbridled Israeli bombardment, the damage to
Hamas’ military infrastructure in northern Gaza during the first days of
the war appears to have been very minimal. Indeed, intelligence sources
told +972 and Local Call that military targets that were part of power
targets have previously been used many times as a fig leaf for harming
the civilian population. “Hamas is everywhere in Gaza; there is no
building that does not have something of Hamas in it, so if you want to
find a way to turn a high-rise into a target, you will be able to do
so,” said one former intelligence official.</span></p>
<p><span>“They will never just hit a high-rise that does not have
something we can define as a military target,” said another intelligence
source, who carried out previous strikes against power targets. “There
will always be a floor in the high-rise [associated with Hamas]. But for
the most part, when it comes to power targets, it is clear that the
target doesn’t have military value that justifies an attack that would
bring down the entire empty building in the middle of a city, with the
help of six planes and bombs weighing several tons.”</span></p>
<p><span>Indeed, according to sources who were involved in the compiling
of power targets in previous wars, although the target file usually
contains some kind of alleged association with Hamas or other militant
groups, striking the target functions primarily as a “means that allows
damage to civil society.” The sources understood, some explicitly and
some implicitly, that damage to civilians is the real purpose of these
attacks.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175482" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231120ARK005.jpg"><img title="Palestinians survivors are brought out of the rubble of houses destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, November 20, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231120ARK005-1280x853.jpg" alt="Palestinians survivors are brought out of the rubble of houses destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, November 20, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Palestinians
survivors are brought out of the rubble of houses destroyed in an
Israeli airstrike in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, November
20, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>In May 2021, for example, Israel was heavily criticized for bombing the </span><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/15/give-us-10-minutes-how-israel-bombed-gaza-media-tower"><span>Al-Jalaa Tower</span></a><span>, which </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-tower-housing-ap-al-jazeera-collapses-after-missile-strike-witness-2021-05-15/"><span>housed</span></a><span>
prominent international media outlets such as Al Jazeera, AP, and AFP.
The army claimed that the building was a Hamas military target; sources
have told +972 and Local Call that it was in fact a power target.</span></p>
<p><span>“The perception is that it really hurts Hamas when high-rise
buildings are taken down, because it creates a public reaction in the
Gaza Strip and scares the population,” said one of the sources. “They
wanted to give the citizens of Gaza the feeling that Hamas is not in
control of the situation. Sometimes they toppled buildings and sometimes
postal service and government buildings.”</span></p>
<p><span>Although it is unprecedented for the Israeli army to attack
more than 1,000 power targets in five days, the idea of causing mass
devastation to civilian areas for strategic purposes was formulated in
previous military operations in Gaza, honed by the so-called “</span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/10/israel-dahiya-doctrine-disproportionate-strategy-military-gaza-idf/"><span>Dahiya Doctrine</span></a><span>” from the Second Lebanon War of 2006.</span></p>
<p><span>According to the doctrine — developed by former IDF Chief of
Staff Gadi Eizenkot, who is now a Knesset member and part of the current
war cabinet — in a war against guerrilla groups such as Hamas or
Hezbollah, Israel must use disproportionate and overwhelming force while
targeting civilian and government infrastructure in order to establish
deterrence and force the civilian population to pressure the groups to
end their attacks. The concept of “power targets” seems to have emanated
from this same logic.</span></p>
<p><span>The first time the Israeli army publicly defined power targets
in Gaza was at the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014. The army
bombed </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/26/israel-bombs-two-gaza-city-tower-blocks"><span>four buildings</span></a><span>
during the last four days of the war — three residential multi-story
buildings in Gaza City, and a high-rise in Rafah. The security
establishment </span><a href="https://www.mako.co.il/news-world/arab-q2_2015/Article-784aeae848ccc41004.htm"><span>explained</span></a><span>
at the time that the attacks were intended to convey to the
Palestinians of Gaza that “nothing is immune anymore,” and to put
pressure on Hamas to agree to a ceasefire. “The evidence we collected
shows that the massive destruction [of the buildings] was carried out
deliberately, and without any military justification,” stated an Amnesty
</span><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2014/12/israels-destruction-multistorey-buildings-extensive-wanton-and-unjustified/"><span>report</span></a><span> in late 2014.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175466" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F210515AM28.jpg"><img title="Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike hits Al-Jalaa tower, which houses apartments and several media outlets including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, Gaza City, May 15, 2021. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F210515AM28-1280x802.jpg" alt="Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike hits Al-Jalaa tower, which houses apartments and several media outlets including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, Gaza City, May 15, 2021. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)" width="391" height="245" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Smoke
rises after an Israeli airstrike hits Al-Jalaa tower, which houses
apartments and several media outlets including the Associated Press and
Al Jazeera, Gaza City, May 15, 2021. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>In another violent escalation that began in November 2018, the
army once again attacked power targets. That time, Israel bombed
high-rises, shopping centers, and the building of the Hamas-affiliated
Al-Aqsa TV station. “Attacking power targets produces a very significant
effect on the other side,” one Air Force officer </span><a href="https://www.idf.il/%D7%90%D7%AA%D7%A8%D7%99-%D7%99%D7%97%D7%99%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%93-%D7%94%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9D/%D7%9B%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA/2018/%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%93-%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%96%D7%94-13-11-18/"><span>stated</span></a><span> at the time. “We did it without killing anyone and we made sure that the building and its surroundings were evacuated.”</span></p>
<p><span>Previous operations have also shown how striking these targets
is meant not only to harm Palestinian morale, but also to raise the
morale inside Israel. Haaretz revealed that during Operation Guardian of
the Walls in 2021, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit conducted a </span><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2023-03-22/ty-article-magazine/.premium/israeli-army-conducted-online-psy-op-against-israeli-public-during-gaza-war/00000186-f972-df90-a19e-f9fff22a0000"><span>psy-op against Israeli citizens</span></a><span>
in order to boost awareness of the IDF’s operations in Gaza and the
damage they caused to Palestinians. Soldiers, who used fake social media
accounts to conceal the campaign’s origin, uploaded images and clips of
the army’s strikes in Gaza to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok
in order to demonstrate the army’s prowess to the Israeli public.</span></p>
<p><span>During the 2021 assault, Israel struck nine targets that were
defined as power targets — all of them high-rise buildings. “The goal
was to collapse the high-rises in order to put pressure on Hamas, and
also so that the [Israeli] public would see a victory image,” one
security source told +972 and Local Call.</span></p>
<p><span>However, the source continued, “it didn’t work. As someone who
has followed Hamas, I heard firsthand how much they did not care about
the civilians and the buildings that were taken down. Sometimes the army
found something in a high-rise building that was related to Hamas, but
it was also possible to hit that specific target with more accurate
weaponry. The bottom line is that they knocked down a high-rise for the
sake of knocking down a high-rise.”</span></p>
<h3>‘Everyone was looking for their children in these piles’</h3>
<p><span>Not only has the current war seen Israel attack an
unprecedented number of power targets, it has also seen the army abandon
prior policies that aimed at avoiding harm to civilians. Whereas
previously the army’s official procedure was that it was possible to
attack power targets only after all civilians had been evacuated from
them, testimonies from Palestinian residents in Gaza indicate that,
since October 7, Israel has attacked high-rises with their residents
still inside, or without having taken significant steps to evacuate
them, leading to many civilian deaths.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175469" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231105AM03.jpg"><img title="Palestinians at the rubble of a destroyed building after an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip, November 5, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231105AM03-1280x853.jpg" alt="Palestinians at the rubble of a destroyed building after an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip, November 5, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Palestinians
at the rubble of a destroyed building after an Israeli airstrike in the
central Gaza Strip, November 5, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>Such attacks very often result in the killing of entire families, as experienced in previous offensives; according to an <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-strikes-on-gaza-homes-killed-mostly-civilians-report-says/">investigation</a>
by AP conducted after the 2014 war, about 89 percent of those killed in
the aerial bombings of family homes were unarmed residents, and most of
them were children and women.</span></p>
<p><span>Tishler, the air force chief of staff, confirmed a shift in
policy, telling reporters that the army’s “roof knocking” policy —
whereby it would fire a small initial strike on the roof of a building
to warn residents that it is about to be struck — is no longer in use
“where there is an enemy.” Roof knocking, Tishler said, is “a term that
is relevant to rounds [of fighting] and not to war.”</span></p>
<p><span>The sources who have previously worked on power targets said
that the brazen strategy of the current war could be a dangerous
development, explaining that attacking power targets was originally
intended to “shock” Gaza but not necessarily to kill large numbers of
civilians. “The targets were designed with the assumption that
high-rises would be evacuated of people, so when we were working on
[compiling the targets], there was no concern whatsoever regarding how
many civilians would be harmed; the assumption was that the number would
always be zero,” said one source with deep knowledge of the tactic.</span></p>
<p><span>“This would mean there would be a total evacuation [of the
targeted buildings], which takes two to three hours, during which the
residents are called [by phone to evacuate], warning missiles are fired,
and we also crosscheck with drone footage that people are indeed
leaving the high-rise,” the source added.</span></p>
<p><span>However, evidence from Gaza suggests that some high-rises —
which we assume to have been power targets — were toppled without prior
warning. +972 and Local Call located at least two cases during the
current war in which entire residential high-rises were bombed and
collapsed without warning, and one case in which, according to the
evidence, a high-rise building collapsed on civilians who were inside.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175488" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/main_image52237_JMgBaYZF8a.jpg"><img title="Devastation is seen in the area of Al-Rimal at the heart of Gaza City after Israeli bombing, October 23, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/main_image52237_JMgBaYZF8a-1280x853.jpg" alt="Devastation is seen in the area of Al-Rimal at the heart of Gaza City after Israeli bombing, October 23, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Devastation
is seen in the area of Al-Rimal at the heart of Gaza City after Israeli
bombing, October 23, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)</p>
</div>
<p><span>On Oct. 10, Israel bombed the Babel Building in Gaza, according to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QklsbrnWnno">testimony</a>
of Bilal Abu Hatzira, who rescued bodies from the ruins that night. Ten
people were killed in the attack on the building, including three
journalists.</span></p>
<p><span>On Oct. 25, the 12-story Al-Taj residential building in Gaza
City was bombed to the ground, killing the families living inside it
without warning. About 120 people were buried under the ruins of their
apartments, according to the testimonies of residents. Yousef Amar
Sharaf, a resident of Al-Taj, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/_Ysharaf/status/1722596375420920273"><span>wrote on X</span></a><span>
that 37 of his family members who lived in the building were killed in
the attack: “My dear father and mother, my beloved wife, my sons, and
most of my brothers and their families.” Residents stated that a lot of
bombs were dropped, damaging and destroying apartments in nearby
buildings too.</span></p>
<p><span>Six days later, on Oct. 31, the eight-story Al-Mohandseen residential building was </span><a href="https://twitter.com/AJArabic/status/1719806516096532857"><span>bombed</span></a><span>
without warning. Between 30 and 45 bodies were reportedly recovered
from the ruins on the first day. One baby was found alive, without his
parents. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/AlHadath/status/1719565782173032572"><span>Journalists</span></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AlMayadeenNews/status/1720674657278329181"><span>estimated</span></a><span> that over 150 people were killed in the attack, as many remained buried under the rubble.</span></p>
<p><span>The building used to stand in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, south of
Wadi Gaza — in the supposed “safe zone” to which Israel directed the
Palestinians who fled their homes in northern and central Gaza — and
therefore served as temporary shelter for the displaced, according to </span><a href="https://twitter.com/Bashar_Hamdan/status/1719844784355860691"><span>testimonies</span></a><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>According to an </span><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/damning-evidence-of-war-crimes-as-israeli-attacks-wipe-out-entire-families-in-gaza/"><span>investigation</span></a><span>
by Amnesty International, on Oct. 9, Israel shelled at least three
multi-story buildings, as well as an open flea market on a crowded
street in the Jabaliya Refugee Camp, killing at least 69 people. “The
bodies were burned … I didn’t want to look, I was scared of looking at
Imad’s face,” said the father of a child who was killed. “The bodies
were scattered on the floor. Everyone was looking for their children in
these piles. I recognized my son only by his trousers. I wanted to bury
him immediately, so I carried my son and got him out.”</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175476" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231116YS16.jpg"><img title="An Israeli tank is seen inside Al-Shati refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, November 16, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231116YS16-1280x854.jpg" alt="An Israeli tank is seen inside Al-Shati refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, November 16, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>An Israeli tank is seen inside Al-Shati refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, November 16, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>According to Amnesty’s investigation, the army said that the
attack on the market area was aimed at a mosque “where there were Hamas
operatives.” However, according to the same investigation, satellite
images do not show a mosque in the vicinity.</span></p>
<p><span>The IDF Spokesperson did not address +972’s and Local Call’s
queries about specific attacks, but stated more generally that “the IDF
provided warnings before attacks in various ways, and when the
circumstances allowed it, also delivered individual warnings through
phone calls to people who were at or near the targets (there were more
from 25,000 live conversations during the war, alongside millions of
recorded conversations, text messages and leaflets dropped from the air
for the purpose of warning the population). In general, the IDF works to
reduce harm to civilians as part of the attacks as much as possible,
despite the challenge of fighting a terrorist organization that uses the
citizens of Gaza as human shields.”</span></p>
<h3>‘The machine produced 100 targets in one day’</h3>
<p><span>According to the IDF Spokesperson, by Nov. 10, during the first
35 days of fighting, Israel attacked a total of 15,000 targets in Gaza.
Based on multiple sources, this is a very high figure compared to the
four previous major operations in the Strip. During Guardian of the
Walls in 2021, Israel attacked 1,500 targets in 11 days. In Protective
Edge in 2014, which lasted 51 days, Israel struck between 5,266 and
6,231 targets. During Pillar of Defense in 2012, about 1,500 targets
were attacked over eight days. In Cast Lead” in 2008, Israel struck
3,400 targets in 22 days.</span></p>
<p><span>Intelligence sources who served in the previous operations also
told +972 and Local Call that, for 10 days in 2021 and three weeks in
2014, an attack rate of 100 to 200 targets per day led to a situation in
which the Israeli Air Force had no targets of military value left. Why,
then, after nearly two months, has the Israeli army not yet run out of
targets in the current war?</span></p>
<p><span>The answer may lie in a </span><a href="https://www.idf.il/%D7%90%D7%AA%D7%A8%D7%99-%D7%99%D7%97%D7%99%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%9F-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%94/%D7%9B%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%94-%D7%9E%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%A9%D7%94%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%A4%D7%95-%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%97%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%A6%D7%94-%D7%9C-%D7%90%D7%92%D7%A3-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%93%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%97%D7%99%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%95%D7%95%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%97%D7%99%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%9D/"><span>statement</span></a><span>
from the IDF Spokesperson on Nov. 2, according to which it is using the
AI system Habsora (“The Gospel”), which the spokesperson says “enables
the use of automatic tools to produce targets at a fast pace, and works
by improving accurate and high-quality intelligence material according
to [operational] needs.” </span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175468" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231102CG63.jpg"><img title="Israeli artillery stationed near the Gaza fence, southern Israel, November 2, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231102CG63-1280x854.jpg" alt="Israeli artillery stationed near the Gaza fence, southern Israel, November 2, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Israeli artillery stationed near the Gaza fence, southern Israel, November 2, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>In the statement, a senior intelligence official is quoted as
saying that thanks to Habsora, targets are created for precision strikes
“while causing great damage to the enemy and minimal damage to
non-combatants. Hamas operatives are not immune — no matter where they
hide.”</span></p>
<p><span>According to intelligence sources, Habsora generates, among
other things, automatic recommendations for attacking private residences
where people suspected of being Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives live.
Israel then carries out large-scale assassination operations through
the heavy shelling of these residential homes.</span></p>
<p><span>Habsora, explained one of the sources, processes enormous
amounts of data that “tens of thousands of intelligence officers could
not process,” and recommends bombing sites in real time. Because most
senior Hamas officials head into underground tunnels with the start of
any military operation, the sources say, the use of a system like
Habsora makes it possible to locate and attack the homes of relatively
junior operatives.</span></p>
<p><span>One former intelligence officer explained that the Habsora
system enables the army to run a “mass assassination factory,” in which
the “emphasis is on quantity and not on quality.” A human eye “will go
over the targets before each attack, but it need not spend a lot of time
on them.” Since Israel estimates that there are approximately 30,000
Hamas members in Gaza, and they are all marked for death, the number of
potential targets is enormous.</span></p>
<p><span>In 2019, the Israeli army created a new center aimed at using
AI to accelerate target generation. “The Targets Administrative Division
is a unit that includes hundreds of officers and soldiers, and is based
on AI capabilities,” said former IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi in an
in-depth </span><a href="https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/byatqqx00h"><span>interview</span></a><span> with Ynet earlier this year.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175478" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231117ARK93.jpg"><img title="Palestinians search for the wounded after an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Shaboura refugee camp in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, November 17, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231117ARK93-1280x853.jpg" alt="Palestinians search for the wounded after an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Shaboura refugee camp in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, November 17, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Palestinians
search for the wounded after an Israeli airstrike on a house in the
Shaboura refugee camp in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip,
November 17, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>“This is a machine that, with the help of AI, processes a lot
of data better and faster than any human, and translates it into targets
for attack,” Kochavi went on. “The result was that in Operation
Guardian of the Walls [in 2021], from the moment this machine was
activated, it generated 100 new targets every day. You see, in the past
there were times in Gaza when we would create 50 targets per year. And
here the machine produced 100 targets in one day.”</span></p>
<p><span>“We prepare the targets automatically and work according to a
checklist,” one of the sources who worked in the new Targets
Administrative Division told +972 and Local Call. “It really is like a
factory. We work quickly and there is no time to delve deep into the
target. The view is that we are judged according to how many targets we
manage to generate.”</span></p>
<p><span>A senior military official in charge of the target bank </span><a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-767706"><span>told</span></a><span>
the Jerusalem Post earlier this year that, thanks to the army’s AI
systems, for the first time the military can generate new targets at a
faster rate than it attacks. Another source said the drive to
automatically generate large numbers of targets is a realization of the
Dahiya Doctrine.</span></p>
<p><span>Automated systems like Habsora have thus greatly facilitated
the work of Israeli intelligence officers in making decisions during
military operations, including calculating potential casualties. Five
different sources confirmed that the number of civilians who may be
killed in attacks on private residences is known in advance to Israeli
intelligence, and appears clearly in the target file under the category
of “collateral damage.” </span></p>
<p><span>According to these sources, there are degrees of collateral
damage, according to which the army determines whether it is possible to
attack a target inside a private residence. “When the general directive
becomes ‘Collateral Damage 5,’ that means we are authorized to strike
all targets that will kill five or less civilians — we can act on all
target files that are five or less,” said one of the sources.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175489" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F140826EN003.jpg"><img title="Palestinians gather around the remains of a tower building housing offices which witnesses said was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, August 26, 2014. (Emad Nassar/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F140826EN003-1280x856.jpg" alt="Palestinians gather around the remains of a tower building housing offices which witnesses said was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, August 26, 2014. (Emad Nassar/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Palestinians
gather around the remains of a tower building housing offices which
witnesses said was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City,
August 26, 2014. (Emad Nassar/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>“In the past, we did not regularly mark the homes of junior
Hamas members for bombing,” said a security official who participated in
attacking targets during previous operations. “In my time, if the house
I was working on was marked Collateral Damage 5, it would not always be
approved [for attack].” Such approval, he said, would only be received
if a senior Hamas commander was known to be living in the home.</span></p>
<p><span>“To my understanding, today they can mark all the houses of
[any Hamas military operative regardless of rank],” the source
continued. “That is a lot of houses. Hamas members who don’t really
matter for anything live in homes across Gaza. So they mark the home and
bomb the house and kill everyone there.”</span></p>
<h3>A concerted policy to bomb family homes</h3>
<p><span>On Oct. 22, the Israeli Air Force bombed the home of the
Palestinian journalist Ahmed Alnaouq in the city of Deir al-Balah. Ahmed
is a close friend and colleague of mine; four years ago, we founded a
Hebrew Facebook page called </span><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-02/ty-article-magazine/.premium/ahmed-wanted-israelis-to-listen-to-gazans-then-23-of-his-family-members-were-killed/0000018b-8fb6-db7e-af9b-eff7d71f0000"><span>“Across the Wall,”</span></a><span> with the aim of bringing Palestinian voices from Gaza to the Israeli public.</span></p>
<p><span>The strike on Oct. 22 collapsed blocks of concrete onto Ahmed’s
entire family, killing his father, brothers, sisters, and all of their
children, including babies. Only his 12-year-old niece, Malak, survived
and remained in a critical condition, her body covered in burns. A few
days later, Malak died.</span></p>
<p><span>Twenty-one members of Ahmed’s family were killed in total,
buried under their home. None of them were militants. The youngest was 2
years old; the oldest, his father, was 75. Ahmed, who is currently
living in the UK, is now alone out of his entire family.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_174894" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/main_image51879_bUcXu6UdsD.jpg"><img title="Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis overflows with the bodies of Palestinians killed and wounded overnight in Israeli airstrikes, Gaza Strip, October 25, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/main_image51879_bUcXu6UdsD-1280x854.jpg" alt="Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis overflows with the bodies of Palestinians killed and wounded overnight in Israeli airstrikes, Gaza Strip, October 25, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Al-Nasser
Hospital in Khan Younis overflows with the bodies of Palestinians
killed and wounded overnight in Israeli airstrikes, Gaza Strip, October
25, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)</p>
</div>
<p><span>Ahmed’s family WhatsApp group is titled “Better Together.” The
last message that appears there was sent by him, a little after midnight
on the night he lost his family. “Someone let me know that everything
is fine,” he wrote. No one answered. He fell asleep, but woke up in a
panic at 4 a.m. Drenched in sweat, he checked his phone again. Silence.
Then he received a message from a friend with the terrible news.</span></p>
<p><span>Ahmed’s case is common in Gaza these days. In interviews to the
press, heads of Gaza hospitals have been echoing the same description:
families enter hospitals as a succession of corpses, a child followed by
his father followed by his grandfather. The bodies are all covered in
dirt and blood.</span></p>
<p><span>According to former Israeli intelligence officers, in many
cases in which a private residence is bombed, the goal is the
“assassination of Hamas or Jihad operatives,” and such targets are
attacked when the operative enters the home. Intelligence researchers
know if the operative’s family members or neighbors may also die in an
attack, and they know how to calculate how many of them may die. Each of
the sources said that these are private homes, where in the majority of
cases, no military activity is carried out.</span></p>
<p><span>+972 and Local Call do not have data regarding the number of
military operatives who were indeed killed or wounded by aerial strikes
on private residences in the current war, but there is ample evidence
that, in many cases, none were military or political operatives
belonging to Hamas or Islamic Jihad.</span></p>
<p><span>On Oct. 10, the Israeli Air Force bombed an apartment building
in Gaza’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing 40 people, most of them
women and children. In one of the shocking </span><a href="https://twitter.com/Husnain62643787/status/1711796332166611056"><span>videos</span></a><span>
taken following the attack, people are seen screaming, holding what
appears to be a doll pulled from the ruins of the house, and passing it
from hand to hand. When the camera zooms in, one can see that it is not a
doll, but the body of a baby.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_174385" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/10/%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AA-%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%82%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AE-%D8%B1%D8%B6%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9-..jpg"><img title="Palestinian rescue services remove the bodies of members of the Shaaban family, all six of whom were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, western Gaza, October 9, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/10/%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AA-%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%82%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AE-%D8%B1%D8%B6%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9-.-1280x853.jpg" alt="Palestinian rescue services remove the bodies of members of the Shaaban family, all six of whom were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, western Gaza, October 9, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Palestinian
rescue services remove the bodies of members of the Shaaban family, all
six of whom were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Sheikh Radwan
neighborhood, western Gaza, October 9, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun)</p>
</div>
<p><span>One of the residents said that 19 members of his family were
killed in the strike. Another survivor wrote on Facebook that he only
found his son’s shoulder in the rubble. Amnesty </span><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/damning-evidence-of-war-crimes-as-israeli-attacks-wipe-out-entire-families-in-gaza/"><span>investigated</span></a><span>
the attack and discovered that a Hamas member lived on one of the upper
floors of the building, but was not present at the time of the attack.</span></p>
<p><span>The bombing of family homes where Hamas or Islamic Jihad
operatives supposedly live likely became a more concerted IDF policy
during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Back then, 606 Palestinians —
about </span><a href="https://www.btselem.org/download/201501_black_flag_eng.pdf"><span>a quarter of the civilian deaths</span></a><span> during the 51 days of fighting — were members of families whose homes were bombed. A UN </span><a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/co-i-gaza-conflict/report-co-i-gaza"><span>report</span></a><span> defined it in 2015 as both a potential war crime and “a new pattern” of action that “led to the death of entire families.”</span></p>
<p><span>In 2014, 93 babies were killed as a result of Israeli bombings of family homes, of which 13 were </span><a href="https://www.btselem.org/download/201501_black_flag_eng.pdf"><span>under 1 year old</span></a><span>. A month ago, 286 babies aged 1 or under were already identified as having been killed in Gaza, according to a </span><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/19xErp5tA1aqHlGoPyx52Dak9LGJ8yioX/view?usp=sharing"><span>detailed ID list</span></a><span> with the ages of victims published by the Gaza Health Ministry on Oct. 26. The number has since likely doubled or tripled.</span></p>
<p><span>However, in many cases, and </span><a href="https://mezan.org/en/post/46282/Days-4-5:-Israel-destroys-entire-residential-neighborhoods-and-intensifies-mass-killings-of-Palestinians-in-Gaza"><span>especially</span></a><span> during the </span><a href="https://mezan.org/en/post/46281/Days-3-4:-Israel%27s-massacre-of-civilians-in-Gaza-continues-unabated-in-the-silence-of-the-international-community"><span>current attacks</span></a><span>
on Gaza, the Israeli army has carried out attacks that struck private
residences even when there is no known or clear military target. For
example, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, by Nov. 29,
Israel had killed 50 Palestinian journalists in Gaza, some of them in
their homes with their families.</span></p>
<p><span>Roshdi Sarraj, 31, a journalist from Gaza who was born in
Britain, founded a media outlet in Gaza called “Ain Media.” On Oct. 22,
an Israeli bomb struck his parents’ home where he was sleeping, </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/19/journalists-killed-israel-gaza-war/"><span>killing him</span></a><span>.
The journalist Salam Mema similarly died under the ruins of her home
after it was bombed; of her three young children, Hadi, 7, died, while
Sham, 3, has not yet been found under the rubble. Two other journalists,
</span><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231026-palestinian-journalist-killed-in-israeli-air-strikes-on-gaza/"><span>Duaa Sharaf</span></a><span> and </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/PALESTINIANJOURNALISTSSYNDICATE/posts/pfbid02bn2UML8XjSUg961v2TNvU1dBc8L5UPFfg72MzunnAGbio63ZAYeFY25SLbjEyYQxl"><span>Salma Makhaimer</span></a><span>, were killed together with their children in their homes.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175475" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231113YS12.jpg"><img title="An Israeli warplane is seen flying above the Gaza Strip, November 13, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231113YS12-1280x854.jpg" alt="An Israeli warplane is seen flying above the Gaza Strip, November 13, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>An Israeli warplane is seen flying above the Gaza Strip, November 13, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>Israeli analysts have admitted that the military effectiveness
of these kinds of disproportionate aerial attacks is limited. Two weeks
after the start of the bombings in Gaza (and before the ground invasion)
— after the bodies of 1,903 children, approximately 1,000 women, and
187 elderly men were counted in the Gaza Strip — Israeli commentator Avi
Issacharoff </span><a href="https://twitter.com/issacharoff/status/1715445906084893102"><span>tweeted</span></a><span>:
“As hard as it is to hear, on the 14th day of fighting, it does not
appear that the military arm of Hamas has been significantly harmed. The
most significant damage to the military leadership is the assassination
of [Hamas commander] Ayman Nofal.”</span></p>
<h3>‘Fighting human animals’</h3>
<p><span>Hamas militants regularly operate out of an intricate network
of tunnels built under large stretches of the Gaza Strip. These tunnels,
as confirmed by the former Israeli intelligence officers we spoke to,
also pass under homes and roads. Therefore, Israeli attempts to destroy
them with aerial strikes are in many cases likely to lead to the killing
of civilians. This may be another reason for the high number of
Palestinian families wiped out in the current offensive.</span></p>
<p><span>The intelligence officers interviewed for this article said
that the way Hamas designed the tunnel network in Gaza knowingly
exploits the civilian population and infrastructure above ground. These
claims were also the basis of the media campaign that Israel conducted
vis-a-vis the attacks and raids on Al-Shifa Hospital and the tunnels
that were discovered under it.</span></p>
<p><span>Israel has also attacked a large number of military targets:
armed Hamas operatives, rocket launcher sites, snipers, anti-tank
squads, military headquarters, bases, observation posts, and more. From
the beginning of the ground invasion, aerial bombardment and heavy
artillery fire have been used to provide backup to Israeli troops on the
ground. Experts in international law say these targets are legitimate,
as long as the strikes comply with the principle of proportionality.</span></p>
<p><span>In response to an enquiry from +972 and Local Call for this
article, the IDF Spokesperson stated: “The IDF is committed to
international law and acts according to it, and in doing so attacks
military targets and does not attack civilians. The terrorist
organization Hamas places its operatives and military assets in the
heart of the civilian population. Hamas systematically uses the civilian
population as a human shield, and conducts combat from civilian
buildings, including sensitive sites such as hospitals, mosques,
schools, and UN facilities.”</span></p>
<p><span>Intelligence sources who spoke to +972 and Local Call similarly
claimed that in many cases Hamas “deliberately endangers the civilian
population in Gaza and tries to forcefully prevent civilians from
evacuating.” Two sources said that Hamas leaders “understand that
Israeli harm to civilians gives them legitimacy in fighting.”</span></p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_175477" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231116YS23.jpg"><img title="Destruction caused by Israeli bombings is seen inside Al-Shati refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, November 16, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)" src="https://static.972mag.com/www/uploads/2023/11/F231116YS23-1280x854.jpg" alt="Destruction caused by Israeli bombings is seen inside Al-Shati refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, November 16, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)" width="391" height="261" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p><p>Destruction
caused by Israeli bombings is seen inside Al-Shati refugee camp,
northern Gaza Strip, November 16, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)</p>
</div>
<p><span>At the same time, while it’s hard to imagine now, the idea of
dropping a one-ton bomb aimed at killing a Hamas operative yet ending up
killing an entire family as “collateral damage” was not always so
readily accepted by large swathes of Israeli society. In 2002, for
example, the Israeli Air Force bombed the home of Salah Mustafa Muhammad
Shehade, then the head of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing.
The bomb killed him, his wife Eman, his 14-year-old daughter Laila, and
14 other civilians, including 11 children. The killing caused a public
uproar in both Israel and the world, and Israel was accused of
committing war crimes.</span></p>
<p><span>That criticism led to a decision by the Israeli army in 2003 to
drop a smaller, quarter-ton bomb on a meeting of top Hamas officials —
including the elusive leader of Al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif —
taking place in a residential building in Gaza, despite the fear that it
would not be powerful enough to kill them. In his book “To Know Hamas,”
veteran Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar wrote that the decision to use a
relatively small bomb was due to the Shehade precedent, and the fear
that a one-ton bomb would kill the civilians in the building as well.
The attack failed, and the senior military wing officers fled the scene.</span></p>
<p><span>In December 2008, in the first major war that Israel waged
against Hamas after it seized power in Gaza, Yoav Gallant, who at the
time headed the IDF Southern Command, said that for the first time
Israel was “hitting the family homes” of senior Hamas officials with the
aim of destroying them, but not harming their families. Gallant
emphasized that the homes were attacked after the families were warned
by a “knock on the roof,” as well as by phone call, after it was clear
that Hamas military activity was taking place inside the house.</span></p>
<p><span>After 2014’s Protective Edge, during which Israel began to
systematically strike family homes from the air, human rights groups
like </span><a href="https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201501_black_flag"><span>B’Tselem</span></a><span>
collected testimonies from Palestinians who survived these attacks. The
survivors said the homes collapsed in on themselves, glass shards cut
the bodies of those inside, the debris “smells of blood,” and people
were buried alive.</span></p>
<p><span>This deadly policy continues today — thanks in part to the use
of destructive weaponry and sophisticated technology like Habsora, but
also to a political and security establishment that has loosened the
reins on Israel’s military machinery. Fifteen years after insisting that
the army was taking pains to minimize civilian harm, Gallant, now
Defense Minister, has clearly changed his tune. “We are fighting human
animals and we act accordingly,” he said after October 7.</span></p>
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