A growing number of Israeli soldiers are reportedly refusing to continue serving in the Occupation of the Gaza Strip, admitting they took part in war crimes and atrocities.

One unnamed former infantry soldier said that during his two-week deployment in late 2023, he witnessed Israeli forces burn down around 15 buildings without reason.
“I didn’t light the match, but I stood guard outside the house. I participated in war crimes”, the soldier acknowledged. “I’m so sorry for what we’ve done.”
27-year-old medic, Yuval Green, was also cited as saying he witnessed soldiers desecrating, looting and vandalising homes, before eventually also burning them. The actions led to his decision to abandon his post last January, after almost two months in Gaza.
The war crimes were not limited to looting and arson, however, but extended to the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians, including minors.
According to one officer in the armoured corps named Yotam Vilk, the military’s instructions were to shoot anyone not authorised to enter an Israeli-controlled buffer zone in Gaza.
He witnessed at least 12 people be shot and killed, with the image of Israeli troops killing an unarmed Palestinian teenager particularly embedded into his mind.
“He died as part of a bigger story. As part of the policy of staying there and not seeing Palestinians as people,” Vilk said.