An Israeli soldier stands in an apartment during a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — "Out of all the things I should be crying for; sleeping in a UNRWA shelter with dozens of people in the same room, sleeping hungry every day the past few months, the number of people who I saw dead in front of me, I oddly find myself unable to stop sobbing at the sight of an Israeli soldier setting fire to my room and laughing about it."
This is what Dana Labban from Rafah, southern Gaza, told L'Orient Today via phone call after the horror she faced of coming across a video of an Israeli soldier’s TikTok that was rummaging through her diary and reading it aloud, calling her stupid and overly sensitive for a fight she had described in detail in her diary. She also saw the soldier “opening her jewelry box and stuffing rings into his pocket and necklaces that she had painstakingly saved to buy.” Some were real gold and silver, and others were accessories.
But what horrified her was that the video concluded with him "setting fire to the diary book and then throwing it across" her bed before cackling with laughter and ending the video.
Acts of misconduct 'acknowledged' by the Israeli army
Instances of Israeli soldiers looting Palestinian possessions during the Gaza war is one of the acts of misconduct — along with inappropriate statements, unjustifiable use of force, and destruction of civilian property — acknowledged lately by the Israeli army, according to reports from Haaretz published last week.
In a recent development, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the Military Advocate General for the Israeli Army emphasized that these actions "do not represent the entire Israeli army, and the military prosecution will determine appropriate measures against those involved." The Military Chief of Staff, Herzl Halevi, also addressed the issue, underlining "the importance of maintaining humanity amid conflict," Haaretz reported.
Yerushalmi provided no details about the incidents, including how many cases are under investigation. He said that the allegations included "unjustified use of force against detainees, removal of private property for no operational purpose, and destruction of private property in violation of orders."
He described the incidents as "isolated" and called on commanders to take steps to discipline soldiers found to have committed violations “in a serious way," without providing further information.
The alleged investigations by the Israeli army come amid South Africa's accusation at the International Court of Justice that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a charge denied by the Israeli government. The inquiry, led by Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Har-Even, aims to determine compliance with Israeli army procedures and international law, focusing on civilian casualties, damage to sensitive facilities, and unauthorized actions such as the destruction of the University of Palestine building.
Collective punishment
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported at the end of December on several cases in which Israeli troops took part in or witnessed the deliberate theft of assets and money from Palestinian civilians, including items like computers, jewelry, and large amounts of cash.
Based on testimonies, the NGO’s team initially estimated that the Israeli military may have stolen valuable possessions worth tens of millions of dollars, on top of stealing personal belongings from Gazans.
The documented incidents indicate that such crimes may point to the intentional destruction of property, stealing of personal items and looting and burning of homes as part of a “systematic strategy” clearly based on collective punishment of the Palestinian population, according to the monitoring group.
The act of stealing property is a firmly established principle in international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention's Article 33 explicitly prohibits pillage, categorizing it as a war crime in both international and non-international armed conflicts, according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Israeli army soldiers have also posted videos of themselves rummaging through Palestinian women’s bedrooms and private belongings, including their lingerie in homes in Gaza, often referring to Palestinian women with obscene names.
$25 million
The Israeli army has looted money and gold artifacts from the Gaza Strip amounting to approximately $25 million, since the beginning of the aggression, according to the Gaza Government Media Office, the office had said in a statement, earlier in January.
The statement that it had received “dozens of testimonies provided by residents of the Gaza Strip regarding the theft of money, gold, and artifacts estimated at 90 million shekels ($24.5 million) over the past 92 days by the Israeli occupation army.”
“Theft operations occurred in various ways, the first of which was at the checkpoints, such as Salah al-Din Street, where they stole from the displaced people who had moved from the northern Gaza Strip to the south, their bags containing their valuable possessions such as money, gold, and artifacts,” the Media Office said, according to the Anadolu News Agency.
Another method reportedly involved “burglaries of homes whose residents were asked to evacuate.”
“They [Israeli army] took souvenir photos and video clips for this crime, some of which were posted on their social media accounts, as happened in the town of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza,” the report added.
One man in his 40s cried himself to sleep for days
Amin Sobhi who is also sheltering at a UNRWA institution in Gaza told L'Orient Today that hundreds of those sheltered in UNRWA institutions across the Strip have reportedly complained to each other of the "looting of their homes by Israeli soldiers. One man in his 40s cried himself to sleep for days after seeing a video of Israeli soldiers rummaging through his wife's clothes going viral on social media platforms."
Sobhi said that the man, who had had to flee his house in the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza one night when the shelling became too unbearable for him, had in his rush to get out of the house forgotten an envelope with around $10,000 worth of savings in a drawer in his wife's cupboard.
The Media Office reportedly pointed out that Israeli newspapers documented these crimes, with the Yedioth Ahronoth describing it as a “systematic theft of the money of the Gazans.”
In one video clip, an Israeli soldier appeared showing off a stolen silver necklace from Gaza to take back to his girlfriend.
In more evidence of looting, one Israeli woman shared a post on a popular Facebook group in December with a photo of make-up products seized from stores in Gaza by her boyfriend, an Israeli soldier.
Similar occurrences have also been documented in the West Bank, which is under Israeli occupation. In the 2014 mass arrest campaign, Palestinians reported numerous instances of looting by Israeli military and police during daily home, charity, and business raids. They allegedly stole cash and property valued at around $3 million, as per Euro-Med Monitor.
As the conflict unfolds, the Israeli military faces scrutiny for both on-the-ground actions and psychological warfare tactics.