Gaza war order was "shoot first," some troops say

By Douglas Hamilton

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Some Israeli soldiers who took part in the January invasion of the Gaza Strip say they were encouraged by commanders to shoot first and worry later about civilians, and went into Gaza with guns blazing.

Testimony from 30 veterans of Operation Cast Lead, published on Wednesday by the activist group "Breaking the Silence," lends credence to charges by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and U.N. agencies that Israeli forces inflicted civilian death and destruction on an unjustifiable scale.

But the report drew an angry reaction from the military -- which has already rejected war crimes charges by international groups -- in a 3-page statement rebutting the allegations as a slanderous and defamatory mix of rumor and hearsay.

In print and video testimony, almost all of it nameless and digitally blurred, soldiers say the army's Gaza imperative was to minimize its own casualties to maintain public support.

"Better hit an innocent than hesitate to target an enemy," was a typical description by one unidentified soldier of his understanding of instructions repeated at pre-invasion briefings and during the 22-day operation, from December 27 to January 18.

"If you're not sure, kill. Fire power was insane. We went in and the booms were just mad," says another. "The minute we got to our starting line, we simply began to fire at suspect places.

"In urban warfare, anyone is your enemy. No innocents."

DEFAMATION AND SLANDER

The army issued a statement saying it "regrets the fact that yet another human rights organization is presenting to Israel and the world a report based on anonymous and general testimonies," while denying it "the minimal decency" of sending it an advance copy to allow the military to investigate.

"This was done while defaming and slandering the IDF (Israel Defense Force) and its commanders," the statement said.

It acknowledged "there were isolated incidences in which unintentional harm was caused to noncombatants as the result of operational errors" that were unavoidable in complex fighting.

Operation Cast Lead had the declared aim of forcing Islamist Hamas fighters, who deny Israel's right to exist, to stop rocket and mortar attacks aimed at southern Israeli towns.

A Palestinian rights group says 1,417 people were killed, in the 22-day onslaught, 926 of them civilians. The Israeli army put the toll at 1,166 and estimated 295 dead were civilians. Israel said 10 of its soldiers and three civilians were killed.

Whole streets in parts of the Gaza Strip were razed to minimize the risk of Israeli casualties from small-arms attacks and booby-trap bombs. The United Nations says Gaza six months later is just beginning to clear 600,000 tons of rubble.

Amnesty International labeled Israel's actions "wanton." The Anti-Defamation League in the United States accused Amnesty of "outrageously accusing the Israeli military of war crimes."