“Individual” Israeli troops in the IDF may have committed war crimes but the Israeli military is not deliberately carrying them out, a former IDF general said in an interview with Daily Express US.
Israel has carried out constant strikes and ground operations in Gaza after Hamas killed 1,200 civilians on October 7.
But the IDF has now killed over 33,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health officials in the Hamas-run strip, and on a number of occasions, Israel has been accused of committing war crimes.
Shlomo Brom, a retired IDF brigadier general, tells Daily Express US that individuals breaking the laws of war are not representative of the IDF as a whole.
He does concede that war crimes may have been committed by Israeli soldiers.
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He said: “Sometimes some individuals do something that negates their orders. These individuals have to be investigated.
“I can not say in complete certainty that individuals have not committed war crimes. In every war, there are individuals who commit war crimes for different reasons.”
But, Mr Brom adds that Israel is only hitting military targets in Gaza despite the high civilian death toll.
He said: “All of the war actions that the UK and US took in the Second World War were war crimes if Israel is committing war crimes.
“I think the people voicing these accusations don’t know about the laws of war. Everyone is talking about the principle of proportion, but few people understand what this means in international law. International law says when a military force is attacking a legitimate military target.
“If civilians are present, a commander must assess whether the damage caused to innocent civilians is proportionate to the importance of the military target. It doesn’t say civilians can’t be killed. it says civilians must not be targeted deliberately. I am confident that the IDF is fulfilling this role.”
Israel has been widely condemned after killing seven aid workers in an airstrike this week. The IDF has branded the strike a “grave mistake”, but questions have been raised over whether it was actually a deliberate attack.
This is because the convoy of vehicles was fired at multiple times. The vehicles also clearly displayed logos for World Central Kitchen, a charity delivering food and aid in Gaza.
Israel has also been criticised after striking the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. The IDF claimed it had killed more terrorists in this strike than in any other attack.
On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip.
Twenty-eight countries voted in favour, 13 abstained and six opposed the resolution, including the United States and Germany.
The resolution expressed “grave concern at reports of serious human rights violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
In response, Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, accused the Council of having “long abandoned the Israeli people and long defended Hamas.”
