‘My unit killed many unarmed men’: Israeli soldiers recount Gaza war crimes
Elis Gjevori reports in Middle East Eye on 13 October 2026:
Der Spiegel has published accounts from ten Israeli soldiers describing how troops killed Palestinian civilians in Gaza and recorded them as “terrorists”.
In testimonies published over the weekend, the soldiers recounted war crimes committed during Israel’s genocide in Gaza, including killing unarmed Palestinians and destroying neighbourhoods to prevent civilians from returning.
David, an infantry reservist who served several deployments in central Gaza and Khan Younis, told the German outlet: “My unit killed many unarmed men.”
A high-ranking officer told him: “The Arabs must be punished. They must understand that we are taking more and more land from them, pushing them back further and further.”
David said “relatively educated, secular Israelis” initially committed the war crimes he described. As the war progressed, “more messianic extremists arrived”.
Many soldiers treated the killings as a “religious duty”.
David recalled calls to exterminate “all the Arabs, we have to build settlements, we will wipe out Gaza. Things you hear from ministers like Bezalel Smotrich or Itamar Ben Gvir,” referring to the far-right ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.