Israel has said it will investigate after shocking videos emerged of Palestinians being killed by air strikes in Gaza, despite appearing to be non-combatants.
One clip, first published by Al Jazeera, appears to shows four civilians walking through the southern city of Khan Yunis before being attacked by an Israeli drone. It carried out several more strikes after two Palestinians survived the first blast.
Another video, posted by an Israeli soldier, appears to show five Palestinians walking with a horse carrying their possessions, before all are killed by an air strike.
An IDF spokesperson told i the first incident took place “in an active combat zone” where soldiers had encountered militants “disguised in civilian clothing”.
The case has been referred to independent investigators, the spokesperson said, and “significant command measures will be taken” if soldiers have violated standards.
Of the second clip, the IDF said it could not comment without the time and location of the incident. It did not answer whether any soldiers have faced disciplinary action over alleged abuses in Gaza.
“The IDF has acted and continues to act to identify unusual cases that deviate from what is expected of IDF soldiers,” it said. “Those cases will be arbitrated, and significant command measures will be taken against the soldiers involved.”
Ruwaida Amer, independent journalist based in Khan Yunis, said: “This is their policy. When they withdraw from an area, the planes remain in the sky.
“When citizens hear of the withdrawal of tanks, they go to inspect their homes, but these planes target them directly. They know that these are civilians from the area, but they kill them.”
The protection of civilians in Gaza is a key point of contention in Israel’s relations with the rest of the world.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently discouraged Israel from waging an attack on the Palestinian city of Rafah in an address to journalists, on the basis that it would run the risk of “killing more civilians” and “further isolating Israel”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, said Israel will still look to take control of Rafah, which has a huge refugee population, even if this results in tensions with the United States.
The IDF claimed it had killed hundreds of fighters in an operation at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital this week, and detained more than 500 suspects, including 358 senior members of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The military’s spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said special forces units had used “deception tactics” to surprise fighters and had severely damaged the militant groups since the raid began on Monday.
Israeli troops have been combing through the sprawling complex, which the military says is connected to a tunnel network used as a base for Palestinian fighters.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said about 30,000 people, including displaced civilians, wounded patients and medical staff are trapped inside the complex.
The Hamas-run Government Media Office in Gaza condemned the operation, calling the attack a “war crime”, Al-Jazeera reported.