This won’t be a look back at the events of the past year. We don’t believe it’s time to summarize yet. Not while massive areas of Gaza are still considered to be “kill zones” by our military, and IDF-declared “safe zones” are still being bombed repeatedly.

In less than a month, the IDF bombed the al-Mawasi Humanitarian Zone in northern Gaza at least 8 times, Haaretz recently reported. The IDF has bombed safe zones before, but this was a rapid and brutal acceleration. For comparison, from late May to September 10th, al-Mawasi was bombed “only” 5 times.

Below, is a line-by-line dissection of the IDF’s response to the article:

“Hamas is systematically exploiting the humanitarian zones.”

This is almost word-for-word what the IDF spokesperson said in July, after a massive airstrike in al-Mawasi killed over 90 people. So if they’re just going to recycle their response, we’ll say the same thing now that we said then: Hamas putting Gazans at risk doesn’t give us the legitimacy to realize that risk.

“The zones to which the population was evacuated following IDF warnings are safer than the areas where the IDF operates against terrorist organizations.”

Did you notice that little rhetorical magic trick? What were once called “safe-zones” are now just safer-than-kill-zones.

So what is a kill zone?
“If they cross the red line, you report it on the radio and you don’t need to wait for permission, you can shoot,” one soldier told +972 Magazine in July.

And this “red line” marking the kill zones’ borders shifts constantly. “500 meters here today, 500 meters there tomorrow,” a different soldier said last week when speaking to Haaretz about the massive kill zone north of the Neztarim corridor. Another said its border “extends as far as a sniper can see.”

This is what happens after the IDF’s pamphlets drop, telling residents to evacuate.

Al-Mawasi after an airstrike. December 5th, 2024. Photo: Doaa Albaz, Activestills

“They do not grant immunity to terrorists and the IDF will continue to operate against terrorist orgs wherever they are found, while complying with rules of intl’ law and reducing harm to [civilians].”

Reducing harm? The IDF’s current norms of reportedly permitting 10-15 civilian deaths for every low-ranking Hamas member beg to differ. According to Haaretz, the rate and pace of deaths in Gaza overshadows the conflicts in Iraq, Ukraine and Myanmar. And to be clear, they reported that comparison around 5,000 deaths ago.

“The cases specified by the letter are under examination and will be referred to the relevant examination and investigative mechanisms if necessary.”

Here we get our most extreme deja-vu. The reporter who wrote this article, Nir Hasson, probably described it best: “I again sent the IDF spokesman a detailed list of attacks asking for comment, again I received a generic response,” Hasson wrote .

He wrote “again,” because last month, he asked about 18 airstrikes on schools, and all 18 were deemed “exceptional cases that will be forwarded to the regulatory mechanism for review.”

How many “exceptional” cases can we “review” before admitting that something has become a norm? Bombing safe zones, schools, hospitals and infrastructure; using human shields to sweep tunnels; torturing detainees - all these former-aberrations are now just a part of how we fight.

Al-Mawasi. December 1st, 2024. Photo: Yousef Zaanoun

Just as al-Mawasi functionally serves as a microcosm for the IDF’s treatment of Palestinians in a “safe zone,” taking a deeper look into a “kill zone” can reveal a lot as well.

Last week, we got another detailed, chilling insight into the ways in which we fight in Gaza with a new collection of testimonies being reported in Haaretz - all from soldiers who served in the same, very large, kill zone north of the Netzarim corridor, which bisects Gaza.

“The forces in the field call it ‘the line of dead bodies’” a commander in Division 252 said. The line he’s describing is invisible, constantly shifting, and for any Gazans north of the Netzarim corridor, it’s the very border separating life from death.

Unarmed civilians posthumously labeled as terrorists by the hundreds, all while restrictions on shooting are near nonexistent. “Anyone approaching whatever line was decided at that moment is considered a threat – no permission needed to shoot,” one soldier said.

“After shootings, bodies are not collected, attracting packs of dogs who come to eat them. In Gaza, people know that wherever you see these dogs, that’s where you must not go,” said another soldier.

Another soldier described an occasion where a teen who crossed into the kill zone was shot dozens of times: "We responded as if it was a large militant raid. […] For about a minute or two, we just kept shooting at the body. People around me were shooting and laughing. […] “When someone pointed out he was unarmed and looked like a civilian, everyone shouted him down. The commander said: ‘Anyone crossing the line is a terrorist, no exceptions, no civilians. Everyone’s a terrorist.’”

One reservist described a case in which an IDF helicopter fired a missile at an unarmed adult and two children who had crossed this ever-changing border. “We had them under complete surveillance with the drone and weapons aimed at them – they couldn’t do anything,” he said.

Al-Mawasi after an airstrike. September 10th, 2024. Photo: Doaa Albaz, Activestills

Another testimony about massive firepower hitting civilians also shows the cruel effects of this “terrorist until proven civilian” narrative on Gazans who survive such events. "We put him in a cage set up near our position, stripped off his clothes, and left him there. […] Soldiers passing by spat on him. It was disgusting.

Finally, a military interrogator came, questioned him briefly while holding a gun to his head, then ordered his release." The man had simply been trying to reach his uncles.

But we also know many unlucky Gazans were deemed “civilian” during their interrogations, and weren’t quickly released. Instead, they were used as human shields by IDF soldiers to sweep dangerous tunnels and shafts.

Even the cases in which civilians are spared can be telling. In one case, 2 people were walking with raised hands and a white flag in a restricted area. “I don’t know what a white flag is, shoot to kill,” the deputy commander, a reservist from Brigade 5, insisted. The commander who protested the initial order to shoot to kill, saving 2 civilian lives, was “berated as a coward” by his peers.

Soldiers described a vicious cycle caused by the IDF falsely claiming dead civilians are terrorists. One soldier described a case in which commanders celebrated killing “200 terrorists” - even though only 10 of those killed were confirmed as militants. “The IDF spokesperson’s announcements about casualty numbers have turned this into a competition between units,” said one recently discharged Division 252 officer. “If Division 99 kills 150 [people], the next unit aims for 200.”

The IDF has massively expanded the powers of lower-ranking commanders. The IDF Chief of Staff no longer needs to approve airstrikes, giving division commanders near-unlimited firepower authority. “A battalion commander can order drone strikes, and a division commander can launch conquest operations.” As a direct result of these changes, the personal opinions of lower-ranking commanders “became operational doctrine.”

These are our fathers, sons, sisters, and neighbors who are being sent into Gaza to carry out unconscionable orders. We owe it to them and to ourselves to listen to them, not just because of who they are, but because they were sent to commit these acts in our name.

“… for over a year, we’ve operated in a lawless space where human life holds no value. Yes, we commanders and combatants are participating in the atrocity unfolding in Gaza. Now everyone must face this reality.”

We hope and pray that the war ends soon in a hostage deal and that next December, you may get a year-end newsletter summarizing what we did in 2025. But until that happens, we can’t afford to look back.

(Taken from an email sent to me by Breaking the Silence. Emphasis original.)