Israeli War Crimes in Gaza

​“The west cannot hide, they cannot claim ignorance. Nobody can say they didn’t know,” says Palestinian writer, Susan Abulhawa.This is “the first livestream genocide in history … If people are ignorant they are wilfully ignorant,” she says.

Since invading Gaza, Israeli soldiers have routinely taken photos and videos of themselves blowing up homes and schools, and abusing captives.

Israeli soldiers have committed widespread abuses in Gaza, including potential war crimes, according to photos and videos they posted, shared and celebrated on their social media accounts, a new documentary has revealed.

According to the feature-length documentary Gaza, published online by Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit on Thursday, Israeli forces routinely shared abuses they committed on platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook after invading the enclave.

The crimes ranged from wanton destruction and looting, to the demolition of entire neighbourhoods and possible unlawful killings.

Al Jazeera said it was able to track down the names, ranks and military units of many of the soldiers after compiling a database of "over two and a half thousand social media accounts, containing photos and videos placed online by Israeli soldiers".

Human rights lawyer Rodney Dixon, who watched an early screening of the documentary, called it "a treasure trove you very seldom come across".

Dixon suggested that the documentary could be of relevance to the International Criminal Court (ICC), claiming it included material which "prosecutors will be licking their lips at".

Israeli and Hamas leaders are currently facing a range of charges before the ICC for their roles in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war on Gaza.

In May, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said he filed an application for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif.

ICC needs to investigate

The Al Jazeera documentary also supports previous investigations which have highlighted how Palestinian civilians are routinely killed by Israeli snipers.

In January, Middle East Eye reported that an Israeli sniper shot dead an elderly Palestinian woman whose grandson was holding a white flag.

Commenting on the abuses featured in the documentary, Dixon said: "Just because a civilian is in an area where combat is going on does not make them fair game.

"If they get involved in hostilities at a particular moment, yes, they lose their civilian status, they can be targeted. But then you have to show the evidence that they are presenting a threat to you," he said.

"It's potentially a matter that the International Criminal Court would want to look at," Dixon added.

The documentary also referenced one video uploaded to YouTube by a member of Israel's 202nd Paratroopers Battalion, in which three unarmed Palestinian men were shot dead by Israeli snipers.

Retired British army general Charlie Herbert said it was "extraordinary" that an Israeli soldier uploaded the video to YouTube. "The degree of impunity," he said. "[There] may have been legitimate targets, but it sure doesn’t look like it to me."

Later, when commenting on an incident where an Israeli soldier blew up a building, Herbert said: "The fact that they’ve been able to rig these buildings up with explosives shows very clearly there’s no current threat from those buildings."

'We destroyed a whole village as revenge'

The film also explored how an Israeli army unit destroyed Khirbet Khaza'a, a small town just across the barrier wall separating Gaza from the Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz, which was attacked on 7 October.

One soldier posted on Facebook a video set to music showing the destruction of the town, along with a voiceover saying: "We went joyously to annihilate the village of the Nazis. We worked hard for two weeks. We blew up the entire village."

At the end of the operation the soldiers posted before and after shots of the destruction.

‘Raped by female soldiers’: Palestinian in leaked Sde Teiman photo speaks out

According to a separate video posted on Instagram, Israeli soldiers could be seen leaving with a message that read: "Mission accomplished. We… destroyed a whole village as a revenge for what they did to Kibbutz Nir Oz."

According to Dixon, the human rights lawyer, "It is strictly prohibited to use reprisal against the civilian population of your enemy."

Bill Van Esveld, an associate children's rights director at Human Rights Watch, said that the large-scale unnecessary destruction of civilian property was prohibited by the Geneva Conventions and under the Rome Statute of the ICC.

The documentary also includes testimony from Fadi Bakr, a former prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention camp in southern Israel.

After sharing his personal account of his own detention and torture, Bakr describes witnessing Israeli soldiers arranging the rape of one of his fellow prisoners by a dog.

"They [Israeli forces] forced him [the Palestinian prisoner] to the ground on his belly. They tied his hands and tied his feet. There were about eight or nine soldiers. They stripped him of his underpants. A captain came and sprayed something on his backside. There was a dog there. They unleashed the dog on him. The dog raped the young man. It raped him, literally speaking. Rape.”

"It is impossible that anyone ever heard of it or saw it, or [it] could be imagined by a human mind," he added.

This feature length investigation below by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit exposes Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip through the medium of photos and videos posted online by Israeli soldiers themselves during the year long conflict. The I-Unit has built up a database of thousands of videos, photos and social media posts. Where possible it has identified the posters and those who appear. The material reveals a range of illegal activities, from wanton destruction and looting to the demolition of entire neighbourhoods and murder. The film also tells the story of the war through the eyes of Palestinian journalists, human rights workers and ordinary residents of the Gaza Strip. And it exposes the complicity of Western governments – in particular the use of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus as a base for British surveillance flights over Gaza.

Below some Youtube comments for the video below:

"These monsters can’t be allowed to get away with this."

"I have never thought such evil exist."

"I'm 20 today, and I stand as a witness to what the world refuses to stop. I've seen children cry, a girl trying to push her disabled brother through the rubble, a mother watching her son die in front of her eyes. I've witnessed the horror of prisoners violated in front of the world's gaze, and children left without a home, without hope.Not a single country or nation intervened. I bear witness to this, and to the future generations, I will say — I saw children lining up for food and water, only to be led to death. People were told to go to safety, only to be blown to pieces. I've watched as hospitals, schools, and universities were destroyed, while the perpetrators laughed and danced in joy. I witnessed. I witnessed. I witnessed —and I will stand as a witness until my last breath. Palestine, you may not be in my DNA, but you are built inside me. I will stand tall for you against this injustice.Forgive my lack of power to protect you, but I will use my voice forever"

"I’m just utterly speechless. Every moment of this documentary has been gut wrenching. This is an unspeakable evil that has been documented as one of the great tragedies in human history."

"As an Italian,a European, a husband and father of three I am deeply shocked by your documentary. I have been following the situation since the beginning but viewing this 80 minutes of condensed inhumanity is taking its toll on me. I have been saddened in the last 12 months, by reading the accounts of families destroyed, kids left orphan, hospitals destroyed and the famine and health issue but I wasn't prepared to withstand an honest account of it. Still crying for all of you my brother and sisters. I am an atheist but I now hope that a righteous God existswhom will reward, in the afterlife, the killed innocents and will harshly punish the perpetrators of such inhumanity."

"USA here, journalist by trade, your work is beyond appreciated and necessary. Our media is tainted. Everyone's media is skewed, but the absence of documenting these atrocities is inherently criminal. I've been watching your network, solely for your great news coverage and range of stories, for about a decade. This is important because I'm sure if people are exposed to this, opinions will shift. Condolences to your fallen colleagues and know that people here are waking up and their deaths will not be in vein."

"Every single adult human being should be forced to watch this. So much heart break, so many tears, so much rage - I cannot tell you how I feel. Thank you for ALWAYS being for the people and for the TRUTH!"

"As an atheist and someone who has no negative opinions about any race or religion,I always wondered why Israel and its people are so despised. Now I get it. Shame on these soldiers. May justice find you soon."

"THAT POOR MOTHER CRYING FOR HER SON. HOW COULD THEY SHOT HIM LIKE THAT IN COLD BLOOD...WHAT A DERANGED EVIL ENTITY."

"The fact they think they’re tough torturing and killing innocent civilians who don’t have any weapons to defend themselves is absolutely a joke."