Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War,

[Everexpanding]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/10/israeli-soldiers-breaking-ranks-gaza-civilians-human-shields

Israeli soldiers have described a free-for-all in Gaza and a breakdown in norms and legal constraints, with civilians killed at the whim of individual officers, according to testimony in a TV documentary

“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” Daniel, the commander of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank unit, says in Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War, due to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Monday evening.

The soldiers who agreed to talk confirmed the IDF’s routine use of human shields, contradicting official denials, and gave details of Israeli troops opening fire unprovoked on civilians racing to reach food handouts at the militarised distribution points set up by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Literally as I have pointed out multiple times (but you seem to not be reading - funny that) - IDF soldiers have gone on camera and testified that the IDF use drones to shoot unarmed civilians in the head. The IDF are murdering people, this is according to members of the IDF.

They are ethnically cleansing Palestine. Many are doing it, according to IDF soldiers, because they want to kill arabs. And surprisingly there are some people going online trying to justify it and gaslight us all into thinking this is not happening.

Tonight they announced that the half of Gaza that Israel has stolen will be rebuilt and the half they have left will be left to rot. This is what those of us who actually care about human lives and equality have been saying would happen, this is a land grab, murdering children to gain territory.

It’s disgusting. We’ve been watching it happen in real-time knowing full well that Israel is carrying out its plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine. Listening to people’s excuses and whataboutery, even though Israeli figures have been saying the quiet part out loud from the beginning.

The injustice of it all is unbearable.

Just to be clear - I was specifically referring to 'sniper drones' / quadcopters with guns attached - firing bullets. I was already aware that Israel were using drones for surveillance, communication, dropping bombs/missiles. The multiple links on this thread are too general.

KoalaKoKo
Literally as I have pointed out multiple times (but you seem to not be reading - funny that) - IDF soldiers have gone on camera and testified that the IDF use drones to shoot unarmed civilians in the head

Did any of the IDF soldiers confirm that they were deliberately 'picking off' small children as claimed by the surgeon?

BelleHathor
Though I'm impressed with the extent that outfits like the dailymail have gone to discredit him

Just to be clear again, the Daily Mail article was published just before the surgeon volunteered in Gaza - the public interest being that he appeared in Netflix's The Crown (as a surgeon) - not that he volunteered in Gaza.

Al Jazeera (sponsored by Qatar etc etc) published a documentary of Gaza as a testing ground for new military technology (AI etc)...
Thankfully it will be impossible to discredit all of the people that have documented what occurred and the Terabytes of video/audio/pictures will be analysed in the future and lot of testimony will be proven accurate

I am not overly impressed by this video slideshow published by Al Jazeera which features Professor Mamode/quadcopters. They will need to come up with better video evidence than this - the woman on the motorbike in particular looks ridiculously staged;

https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2024/12/16/how-israeli-quadcopters-are-killing-palestinians-in-gaza

They talked about deliberately shooting unarmed civilians and how it feels like a video game - they didn’t specifically mention kids. I find it interesting that your argument has shifted from “In fact, there doesn’t appear to be concrete evidence that Israel is using ‘sniper drones’ or quadcopters ‘firing bullets’, only speculation that the technology exists.” to whether they admit to also using it on children. Would it be okay if they only shot unarmed adults?

Their confessions show they do have the technology and that they use it to shoot innocent people. It has been also well documented that they kill children. If you want IDF soldiers confessing to soldiers deliberately killing kids, there have been many. Here is one account from Haaretz from an IDF soldier about a 4 year old who was attacked by his commander.

"A new commander came to us. We went out with him on the first patrol at six in the morning. He stops. There's not a soul in the streets, just a little 4-year-old boy playing in the sand in his yard. The commander suddenly starts running, grabs the boy, and breaks his arm at the elbow and his leg here. Stepped on his stomach three times and left. We all stood there with our mouths open. Looking at him in shock ... I asked the commander: "What's your story?" He told me: These kids need to be killed from the day they are born. When a commander does that, it becomes legit."

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-12-23/ty-article-opinion/.premium/when-you-enter-gaza-you-are-god-inside-the-minds-of-idf-soldiers-who-commit-war-crimes/00000193-f2a4-dc18-a3db-fee62b540000

They show and describe sniper drones

KoalaKoKo
I find it interesting that your argument has shifted from “In fact, there doesn’t appear to be concrete evidence that Israel is using ‘sniper drones’ or quadcopters ‘firing bullets’, only speculation that the technology exists.”*

When I posted that I was thinking of this Channel 4 report from June 2025;
https://www.channel4.com/news/israeli-sniper-drones-used-in-aid-attacks-gaza-witnesses-claim

I should have worded my post better - speculation that Israel are using this technology in the field - the Channel 4 journalist says it is possible. Otherwise I was specifically challenging the surgeon's testimony - I haven't watched the documentary you are referring to.

Sorry, posted in haste - I didn't intend to reply here.

KoalaKoKo
I cannot view your Haaretz link, but AI overview suggests the quote from the IDF soldier is from the First Intifada (1987-1993).

So before October 7th

No it’s from Gaza 2024!

The documentary I am referring to btw is the one this thread is actually about! It is worth watching, you can get it on ITV catch up.

No it’s from Gaza 2024!

According to Middle East Eye on Instagram, the actual testimonies in the Haaretz opinion piece were taken from previous research - 'Israeli psychologist Yoel Elizur [aged 76] details testimonies from soldiers after the First Intifada (1987 -1993)'.

Very disingenuous if that was not made clear by Haaretz or the psychologist -even if the psychologist was drawing parallels with the current conflict.

No links? Just a vague AI says…?

My post earlier in the day mentioned AI overview - I have subsequently seen confirmation from Middle East Eye.

Links?

I have also found a reference to the opinion piece and quote here;

Context
I note a recent Haaretz article describes war crimes committed during [sic] from 1987- 1993 [18] which includes testimonies by Israeli soldiers such as:

... "A new commander came to us. We went out with him on the first patrol at six in the morning. He stops...
When a commander does that, it becomes legit."[18]
https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/133249/html/

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-12-23/ty-article-opinion/.premium/when-you-enter-gaza-you-are-god-inside-the-minds-of-idf-soldiers-who-commit-war-crimes/00000193-f2a4-dc18-a3db-fee62b540000

It's behind a paywall, the author does compare statements by IDF soldiers that have served since October 7th and compares/analyses their statements based on the categories that they came up with in the initial study based on the first intifada, noting:

"My examination of the data indicated a similar grouping of soldiers with some significant differences. Most notably, the Callous and Ideologically Violent groups appear to be larger, more extreme and to act out their ideology in defiance of IDF's standards and the weakened justice system.

The <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.is/o/O8rGB/www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-10-27/ty-article/.premium/you-entered-gaza-to-take-revenge-mourners-eulogize-idf-soldier-west-bank-settler/00000192-ce38-df2b-a5db-ce3cf8340000" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">eulogies at Shuvael Ben-Natan's funeral, a reservist who was killed in Lebanon, illustrate this shift. One speaker referred to Ben-Natan's killing of a 40-year-old Palestinian who was harvesting olives with his children in the West Bank. Members of his military unit recounted how he boosted morale in Gaza by setting a home on fire without approval. They professed their commitment to continue with arson and revenge in Gaza, Lebanon and Samaria (the West Bank)."

As the corrupting influence of the Callous and Ideologically Violent soldiers increases, the Incorruptible are marginalized. Max Kresh, a reserve fighter, declared his opposition to participating in crimes against humanity like "flattening Gaza." The result was severe social ostracism: "They kicked me out of my team. They made it clear they didn't want me." He returned from reserve duty feeling "mentally crushed."