Finding Cases Of Violence To Looting In Gaza, Israel's Chief Military Lawyer Reminds Troop Commanders

Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi. (Wikimedia Commons/IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

JAKARTA - Israel's Chief of Military Lawyer Defense Forces (IDF) Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi warned troop commanders regarding the actions of Israeli soldiers during the conflict in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.

Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi issued a warning after the findings of cases of unlawful and illegal behavior by Israeli forces in Gaza.

"We have found cases of behavior that deviate from the unacceptable values and protocols of the IDF," the IDF military advocate said, quoted by The Times of Israel on February 21.

He further said it included "uninhabitable statements encouraging unacceptable phenomena; the use of unjustified violence, including against detainees; looting, which includes the use or transfer of private property for non-operational purposes and destruction of civilian property that goes against protocol."

"Some incidents exceeded the realm of discipline, and crossed the criminal threshold," the mother of three warned.

"These actions and statements, made by individuals who do not represent the whole, contradict the IDF as soldiers who are professional, moral, and dignified, and they have no place in the IDF," he said.

He said the action also "corresponding to strategic damage to the State of Israel and the IDF in the international arena, which is seriously difficult to overestimate."

Major General Tomer-Yerushalmi added that the cases are being investigated, after which the Military General's Advocate Office will decide whether criminal or disciplinary actions need to be taken.

The IDF lawyer's comments came a day after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi sent an official letter to his troops warning them that the army "did not carry out massive killings," did not act on the basis of revenge or commit genocide in Gaza, in a war with Hamas.