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Israeli soldiers have begun in recent weeks to set fire to homes in the Gaza Strip, following direct orders from their commanders, without the necessary legal permission to do so, according to information obtained by Haaretz.

Soldiers have destroyed several hundred buildings using this method over the past month. After the structure is set on fire along with everything inside it, it is allowed to burn out until it is rendered useless.

When asked about the new practice, an Israeli army commander told Haaretz that structures are selected for burning based on intel. When asked about a building that was set ablaze not far from where the interview took place, the commander said: “There must have been information about the landlord, or maybe something was found there. I don’t know exactly why that house was set on fire.”

Three officers spearheading Gaza fighting confirmed to Haaretz that setting homes on fire has become common practice. A commander of one battalion told his troops last week, as they were wrapping up operations in a specific Gaza area: “Clear your things from the house, and prep it for incineration.”

  • rottingleaf@lemmy.zipEnglish
    3·
    11 months ago

    Israelis supporting what their state is now like how this is too - they can allow such newspapers and TV channels and civilized people to exist and talk and protest, thus getting the benefit of pretending that it’s a pluralist western democratic state.

    • Silverseren@kbin.socialOP
      5·
      11 months ago

      Did you miss how the Israeli government has been actively trying to censor Haaretz since they started doing proper journalism on what’s going on in Gaza? There was even a political attempt to get them shut down.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.zipEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        There are such “attempts” all the time. Maybe they are a bit more material now, but in general this is very soft.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      11 months ago

      I think I know what you mean and you’re partly right: Haaretz is still an Israeli paper and as such has a pro-Israel bias.

      It’s also a left-leaning paper, though, so it’s against genocide and bigotry and extremely critical and always has been of the fascist Netanyahu government and the apartheid system they’ve created.

      Times of Israel is analogous to the NY Compost, Haaretz is closer to something like The Intercept.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        and as such has a pro-Israel bias.

        I didn’t mean that, though this is true (in the sense that they sometimes cry thief where there is murder and murder where there is massacre).

        I meant that for them to be a problem for that political system they have to pass a certain threshold of power and they don’t do that, while for them to be a benefit for it there are no thresholds.

        A bit like Russia (EDIT:…n opposition) in 2007.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          11 months ago

          that they sometimes cry thief where there is murder and murder where there is massacre

          They don’t. You’re confusing them with the likes of ToI and Jerusalem Post.

          for them to be a problem for that political system they have to pass a certain threshold of power and they don’t do that

          Yeah they do. For all the undemocratic shit, Israel still has a certain degree of press freedom.

          Haaretz are a constant thorn in the side of the government and the government constantly complain about them, but they couldn’t significantly censor them, let alone shut them down, without sparking widespread riots in the streets.

          • rottingleaf@lemmy.zipEnglish
            1·
            11 months ago

            For all the undemocratic shit, Israel still has a certain degree of press freedom.

            I was trying to say that this press freedom impedes them (the government) insufficiently to prevent them from doing what they want the most, but the fact of it still existing is very actively used by Israeli propaganda.

            There are plenty of people involved, some of the baddies may consider them what you said and some may think what I described. Probably more of the former.