Israeli general's 'contempt for human life' led to widespread deaths in Gaza

The commander of Israel's 252nd Division has been accused by his own troops of "contempt for human life" leading to unnecessary deaths of soldiers and a push for ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza.

Soldiers speaking to Haaretz said Brigadier General Yehuda Vach's conduct had led directly to the deaths in August of eight soldiers in Zeitoun, a southern neighbourhood of Gaza City.

"He sent the soldiers in there without the necessary preparations on the ground and without ensuring that there were no bombs there," one said.

"A supply convoy either drove over a bomb or they were hit by an anti-tank missile."

A senior officer in Southern Command told Haaretz that the army launched an inquiry into the high number of soldiers killed in the Zeitoun assault.

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