Israelis' widespread antagonism toward the accusation that Israel is committing war crimes, ethnic cleansing or genocide stems to a large extent from the brutality Hamas demonstrated in its massacre on October 7, 2023.
Many Israelis have trouble reconciling that brutal massacre with the claim that Israel, too, is operating in the Gaza Strip in a way that contradicts all human morality.
Nevertheless, the investigative report Haaretz published last week paints a shocking picture of unbridled lawlessness on the part of some of the soldiers fighting in the heart of Gaza, especially north of the Netzarim corridor.
The report detailed numerous incidents that can't be termed anything other than war crimes, and some indicate a loss of the soldiers' humanity.
According to the report, the troops drew an imaginary line in the area that doesn't appear on any map and isn't written in any official order. They call it "the line of dead bodies."
The commander of the 252nd Division explained the source of the name. "After shootings, bodies are not collected, attracting packs of dogs who come to eat them," he said. "In Gaza, people know that wherever you see these dogs, that's where you shouldn't go."
The report keeps describing more and more nightmare scenarios. Together they comprise a horror film that, heartrendingly, is occurring in reality.
For instance, dozens of bullets fired at someone who turned out to be "just a boy, maybe 16"; some of the soldiers "were shooting and laughing." Later, the battalion commander praised the killing and said he "hoped we'd kill ten more tomorrow."
Nor is wholesale, indiscriminate killing the only problem. There are also acts of humiliation that reveal a complete loss of discipline.
After one Gaza resident managed to survive massive gunfire targeting his group – three of his friends were killed – the soldiers "put him in a cage set up near our position, stripped off his clothes… Soldiers passing by spat on him."
Later, a military interrogator arrived and "questioned him briefly while holding a gun to his head."
Gazans who were shot and killed after crossing this imaginary line in the Netzarim region and were then labeled "terrorists" by the Israel Defense Forces, even though there was no evidence of this.
It was an arbitrary decision that casts serious doubt on the army's reports about how many terrorists it has killed.
One officer in the 252nd Division described an incident in which, out of 200 bodies whose identities were later checked, "only ten were confirmed as known Hamas operatives."
The more evidence emerges from Gaza, the clearer the nauseating picture of our loss of humanity becomes. The fact that many Israelis try to deny the testimony about what is being done there not only doesn't help Israel in the international arena but also continues to legitimize crimes and injustices that tarnish the entire country's moral and human character.
The above article is Haaretz's lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.