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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">Israeli soldiers admit killing Palestinians in Gaza 'no matter the age, even if unarmed'</h1><p class="gmail-">Israeli soldiers and snipers have targeted Palestinian men, women, and children throughout more than two years of genocide</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">News Desk</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span style="color:rgb(84,88,94)">MAY 11, 2026 -<font size="1"> </font></span><font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-soldiers-admit-killing-palestinians-in-gaza-no-matter-the-age-even-if-unarmed">https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-soldiers-admit-killing-palestinians-in-gaza-no-matter-the-age-even-if-unarmed</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/6e18ca96-4d32-11f1-801a-00163e02c055.webp" alt="" width="558" height="314" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>(Photo credit: Khamis Al-Rifi/Reuters)</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span class="gmail-article-body"><p><span style="background-color:transparent">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, </span><a href="https://13tv.co.il/allshows/series/27/season/25/4400266/?pid=1027884&refc=904992216"><span style="background-color:transparent">according</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent"> to a 7 May investigative report aired on Israel\u2019s Channel 13.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cA man, no matter what age, don\u2019t play games with it; kill immediately,\u201d one soldier said he was told by his commanders.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cThey even told us that if it\u2019s a woman or a child, use your judgment, because things happen,\u201d he added, speaking anonymously.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">His testimony was given to Iris Haim, the mother of an Israeli soldier taken captive by Hamas on 7 October 2023.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">Yotam Haim was </span><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-israel-mistakenly-shoots-dead-three-hostages-northern-gaza"><span style="background-color:transparent">killed</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent">
by Israeli forces in Gaza after approaching their positions during an
attempt to escape alongside two other captives in December 2023.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">The three Israeli captives were shirtless and waving white flags to indicate they were not a threat to the soldiers.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">However, the soldiers opened fire and killed them anyway, apparently thinking they were Palestinian civilians.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">The
incident suggested that Israeli troops were implementing a \u201cshoot to
kill\u201d policy against Palestinian males, including unarmed civilians.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">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.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cI
fire 500 bullets a minute. I blow things up. I don\u2019t care. I\u2019m here to
kill terrorists,\u201d he stated, describing his state of mind during his
tour in Gaza.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cThere are three terrorists, I\u2019ll kill them. Then I realized two had already been killed, and one had escaped.\u201d</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">Haim's mother said that the soldiers had effectively been ordered to \u201ckill every person walking on two legs.\u201d</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cIf
a terrorist moves toward me, I try to kill him. I do not try to arrest
him,\u201d the commander of the brigade that killed her son told her.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent"> \u201cOf course, we need to kill him \u2013 yes, even if he is completely unarmed.\u201d</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">Another soldier told Channel 13 that troops were instructed to view any Palestinian as a threat.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cEven
an old man can blow himself up with an explosive device. The protocol
was to shoot them,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cthere was a situation where a
person came out with a white flag and was shot on the spot.\u201d</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">Israeli snipers in Gaza have regularly targeted Palestinian civilians, including women and children, in a deliberate manner.</span></p><div class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"></div> <p><span style="background-color:transparent">The
first major case to break headlines in western media was the murder of
two Christian women at Gaza City\u2019s Holy Family Church on 16 December
2023. A Palestinian Catholic mother and her daughter were </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/16/middleeast/idf-sniper-gaza-church-deaths-intl-hnk/index.html"><span style="background-color:transparent">killed</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent"> by an Israeli sniper while seeking refuge inside the church compound, resulting in condemnation from the pope.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">In January 2024, British broadcaster ITV captured the moment when 51-year-old Ramzi Abu Sahloul </span><a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/war-in-the-holy-land-1706138139/"><span style="background-color:transparent">was shot through the chest</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent">,
only moments after he had spoken on air. Sahloul was part of a group of
civilians who were fleeing to Rafah in Gaza\u2019s south while holding white
flags on the orders of the Israeli military. </span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">A
British surgeon who traveled to Gaza to volunteer reported that Israeli
snipers regularly targeted Palestinian women and children.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cLooking
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,\u201d </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/02/surgeon-gaza-children-britain-sniper-fire-drones-labour-arms-israel"><span style="background-color:transparent">stated</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent"> British surgeon Nizam Mamode to <i>The Guardian</i> after his return to London in February 2025.</span></p><span></span><p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cHe
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,\u201d Mamode explained.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">Particularly
disturbing were the cases in which the children were killed with a
\u201cbullet to the head, which was clearly the result of deliberate sniper
fire,\u201d he added.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">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. </span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">Tens
of thousands of Palestinians are expected to die from the indirect
effects of the war, including from Israel\u2019s destruction of the strip\u2019s
medical, water, and electricity infrastructure.</span></p></span></div></div></div></div>
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