Judgments on Gaza war’s conduct disputed

Seizure of soldier into tunnel still haunts Israeli army

William Booth, Washington Post

Judgments on Gaza war’s conduct disputed — The Plain Dealer, 3 September 2015 — The Plain Dealer · Cleveland, OH · 3 September 2015

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Transcribed from the clipping

RAFAH, GAZA STRIP — It all began at a hole in the ground in a field of melons, when an Israeli reconnaissance squad surprised Hamas militiamen near a tunnel entrance. A vicious firefight erupted, just a few bursts long, but enough to leave two Israeli soldiers and one Palestinian militant dead.

After a quick body count, it was discovered that a young Israeli officer was missing, dragged down the tunnel — a nightmare scenario for Israel, whose military doctrine enshrines “force protection” and vows never to leave a soldier, dead or alive, behind. The abduction took place over a year ago on a day both Palestinians and Israelis have come to call “Black Friday,” Aug.

1, 2014, when a 72-hour cease-fire in the middle of the Gaza war was shattered. It was one of the deadliest and most controversial days in last summer’s Gaza war.

And it returned to the spotlight with the recent release of a report by Amnesty International, which asserts that Israel’s use of one-ton bombs and heavy artillery shelling in civilian neighborhoods was a disproportionate, indiscriminate, even vengeful, response to the abduction of a single soldier. Amnesty said it found “strong evidence” of war crimes.

After the disappearance of the soldier, Amnesty says, 2,000 bombs, missiles and artillery shells were fired into densely populated areas. Israel denied it used excessive force and said its soldiers were not only seeking the return of a kidnapped soldier but also fighting Hamas militants who attacked them from behind “human shields.”

The Amnesty investigation comes on the heels of a June report by the Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict for the United Nations, which concluded that the Black Friday events might amount to war crimes.

How this transcription was made

Date confirmed on the page (folio). Adjudicated confirmed against the printed page: Folio rule across the top of the page: left end "Thursday, September 3, 2015", centre "The Plain Dealer | cleveland.com", right end "A7", with the section flag "WORLD" in reverse type beneath at the r.

Context added by this archive

Folio confirms exactly: “Thursday, September 3, 2015 | The Plain Dealer | cleveland.com | A7 | WORLD.” This clipping NAMES the Hannibal Directive twice, in those words.

First: “Within minutes, senior Israeli commanders shouted the order to declare a ‘Hannibal Directive,’ a classified protocol understood by many Israeli troops to mean ‘better a dead soldier than a captured soldier.’” Second: “Col.

Ofer Winter was the commander of the Givati Brigade who issued the Hannibal Directive, which led to multiple strikes on tunnel openings, crowded intersections and a central hospital, all to stop Hamas from spiriting Goldin away, according to Amnesty.”

The page spells the Rafah grocer family “Bilbisi” where the AP story on slides 44–45 spells the supermarket family “Bilbesi”; both spellings kept as printed. Israeli soldiers named on the page (Hadar Goldin, Lt. Eitan Fund) are combatants and so not listed under named_individuals.

Cite this clipping

"Judgments on Gaza war’s conduct disputed," The Plain Dealer, 3 September 2015, p. A7. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2015-024. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2015-024