TORONTO — Israel abides by a strict code of conduct in combat, a senior Israeli army officer said last week in an attempt to fend off accusations that Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians during the war in the Gaza Strip some two years ago.
Ben Tzion Gruber
Ben Tzion Gruber made his comments shortly after Judge Richard Goldstone, the head of a United Nations commission investigating possible war crimes in Gaza, retracted a claim that Israel singled out civilians and civilian infrastructure during its invasion in 2009.
Speaking on “Ethics in the Field,” Gruber, a colonel in the reserves who commanded a tank division in that three-week war, said that Israel hews to a doctrine of proportionality and takes special precautions not to harm Arab civilians in wartime situations.
“Collateral damage should be in proportion to the threat,” he said, addressing a business luncheon in downtown Toronto. “The army uses force only to accomplish a mission. We want to avoid collateral damage. We don’t want to hurt civilians.”
Gruber, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Efrat, said Israel sent out leaflets and text messages to warn Arab civilians in Gaza of impending operations.
He denied charges that Israel deployed phosphorous bombs in urban areas of Gaza in contravention of international law.
The son of Holocaust survivors, Gruber explained that Israeli army commanders have only seconds to make major decisions in combat.
Mistakes can occur because terrorists wear civilian clothing, he added.
Gruber accused them of using “human shields.” As he put it, “They are shooting behind kids.”
And terrorists have commandeered United Nations ambulances to ferry men and arms, he noted.
Gruber said the Hamas government expropriated the ambulances after seizing control of Gaza from the Fatah faction in June 2007.
According to Gruber, Hamas stored rocket launchers in the yard of a mosque in Gaza during the war.
He said he gave the imam 24 hours to remove religious objects before demolishing the mosque.
By his estimation, 800 smuggling tunnels have been built in Gaza to bring in military equipment from the Sinai Peninsula and move around fighters.
Most of the tunnels are big enough to accommodate jeeps and, in some cases, trucks.
Four Gaza families control the tunnel system, he said, noting that the Hamas government charges $10,000 for a licence to build a tunnel.
Rockets fired from Gaza can now reach Tel Aviv and most places in Israel, he said.
Thousands of such rockets have been fired at Israel in the past nine years. During the peak years in 2007 and 2008, there were more than 5,000 launchings, he said.