TEL AVIV, October 12, 2026 (WAFA) – Four soldiers from the Israeli occupation army's Military Intelligence Directorate admitted to receiving orders to drop heavy bombs on inhabited buildings in the Gaza Strip without evacuating the residents, resulting in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of civilians.

The soldiers provided their testimonies to the Hebrew newspaper *Haaretz* in a report published this Monday. They revealed a drastic shift in the rules governing the use of heavy weaponry and standards of proportionality, as well as a loosening of restrictions on targeting civilians not involved in the fighting—treating them instead as "collateral damage" in the attacks.

One soldier stated: "There was a drastic change in the concept of proportionality and the use of heavy weaponry, and a significant relaxation of the policy regarding the killing of non-combatant civilians, treating them as collateral damage to the targets."

According to the newspaper, the testimonies of the four soldiers indicate a shift in the concept of warfare, where even minor targets came to be viewed as justification for inflicting harm on civilians. The report added that the high number of casualties classified by the occupation army as "collateral damage" was not the result of failures or errors in judgment, but rather the outcome of a policy that maximized the scope of fire. *Haaretz* noted that similar accounts have surfaced throughout the three years of the war, pointing out that the attempt to compensate for the intelligence failure of October 7, 2023, led to the acceptance of unprecedented civilian casualties.

The report addressed an airstrike carried out by occupation forces on October 31, 2023, involving the use of heavy bombs against a large residential complex in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. A soldier who participated in the mission was quoted as saying it was clear to the strike team that the number of non-targeted civilians likely to be harmed was extremely high.

The soldier added that collateral damage estimates prepared by military intelligence indicated a potential impact on between 250 and 300 people, necessitating that the decision be referred to the Chief of Staff for direct approval. He continued that, in the aftermath of the attack, it became apparent that the death toll had reached approximately 250 Palestinian civilians.

K.T