Page 2 of
3 'It's
mostly punishment …' By Oded
Na'aman
And how frequent were the
blockades?
Very. It could be three times
one month, and then three months of nothing. It
depends.
The blockade goes on for a day,
two days, three days, four, or more than that?
I can't remember anything longer than four
days. If it was longer than that, they'd die
there, and I think the IDF knows that. Seventy
percent of Gaza lives on fishing - they have no
other choice. For them it means not eating. There
are whole families
who don't eat for a few
days because of the blockade. They eat bread and
water.
3. Shoot to Kill
Unit:
Engineering Corps
Location: Rafah
Year: 2006
During the operations
in Gaza, anyone walking around in the street, you
shoot at the torso. In one operation in the
Philadelphi corridor, anyone walking around at
night, you shoot at the torso.
How often
were the operations?
Daily. In the
Philadelphi corridor, every day.
When
you're searching for tunnels, how do people manage
to get around - I mean, they live in the area.
It's like this: You bring one force up to
the third or fourth floor of a building. Another
group does the search below. They know that while
they're doing the search there'll be people trying
to attack them. So they put the force up high, so
they can shoot at anyone down in the street.
How much shooting was there?
Endless.
Say I'm there, I'm up on
the third floor. I shoot at anyone I see?
Yes.
But it's in Gaza, it's a
street, it's the most crowded place in the world.
No, no, I'm talking about the Philadelphi
corridor.
So that's a rural area?
Not exactly, there's a road, it's like the
suburbs, not the center. During operations in the
other Gaza neighborhoods it's the same thing.
Shooting, during night operations - shooting.
It there any kind of announcement telling
people to stay indoors?
No.
They
actually shot people?
They shot anyone
walking around in the street. It always ended
with, "We killed six terrorists today." Whoever
you shot in the street is "a terrorist."
That's what they say at the briefings?
The goal is to kill terrorists.
What are the rules of engagement?
Whoever's walking around at night, shoot
to kill.
During the day, too?
They
talked about that in the briefings: whoever's
walking around during the day, look for something
suspicious. But something suspicious could be a
cane.
4. Elimination Operation
Unit: Special Forces
Location:
Gaza Strip
Year: 2000
There was a
period at the beginning of the Intifada where they
assassinated people using helicopter missiles.
This was at the beginning of the Second
Intifada?
Yes. But it was a huge mess
because there were mistakes and other people were
killed, so they told us we were now going to be
doing a ground elimination operation.
Is
that the terminology they used? "Ground
elimination operation"?
I don't remember.
But we knew it was going to be the first one of
the Intifada. That was very important for the
commanders and we started to train for it. The
plan was to catch a terrorist on his way to Rafah,
trap him in the middle of the road, and eliminate
him.
Not to arrest him?
No, direct
elimination. Targeted. But that operation was
canceled, and then a few days later they told us
that we're going on an arrest operation. I
remember the disappointment. We were going to
arrest the guy instead of doing something
groundbreaking, changing the terms. So the
operation was planned...
Anyway, we're
waiting inside the APC [armored personnel
carrier], there are Shin Bet agents with us, and
we can hear the updates from intelligence. It was
amazing, like, "He's sitting in his house drinking
coffee, he's going downstairs, saying hi to the
neighbor" - stuff like that. "He's going back up,
coming down again, saying this and that, opening
the trunk now, picking up a friend" - really
detailed stuff. He didn't drive, someone else
drove, and they told us his weapon was in the
trunk. So we knew he didn't have the weapon with
him in the car, which would make the arrest
easier. At least it relieved my stress, because I
knew that if he ran to get the weapon, they'd
shoot at him.
Where did the Shin Bet agent
sit?
With me. In the APC. We were in
contact with command and they told us he'd arrive
in another five minutes, four minutes, one minute.
And then there was a change in the orders,
apparently from the brigade commander: elimination
operation. A minute ahead of time. They hadn't
prepared us for that. A minute to go and it's an
elimination operation.
Why do you say
"apparently from the brigade commander"?
I
think it was the brigade commander. Looking back,
the whole thing seems like a political ploy by the
commander, trying to get bonus points for doing
the first elimination operation, and the brigade
commander trying, too. . . everyone wanted it,
everyone was hot for it. The car arrives, and it's
not according to plan: their car stops here, and
there's another car in front of it, here. From
what I remember, we had to shoot, he was three
meters away. We had to shoot. After they stopped
the cars, I fired through the scope and the
gunfire made an insane amount of noise, just
crazy. And then the car, the moment we started
shooting, started speeding in this direction.
The car in front?
No, the
terrorist's car - apparently when they shot the
driver his leg was stuck on the gas, and they
started flying. The gunfire increased, and the
commander next to me is yelling "Stop, stop, hold
your fire," but they don't stop shooting. Our guys
get out and start running, away from the jeep and
the armored truck, shoot a few rounds, and then go
back. Insane bullets flying around for a few
minutes. "Stop, stop, hold your fire," and then
they stop. They fired dozens if not hundreds of
bullets into the car in front.
Are you
saying this because you checked afterward?
Because we carried out the bodies. There
were three people in that car. Nothing happened to
the person in the back. He got out, looked around
like this, put his hands in the air. But the two
bodies in the front were hacked to pieces...
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