Israeli army shoots first and finds reasons to justify mass killings later, veterans group says
Israeli veterans' organisation Breaking the Silence has accused the country's military of killing Palestinians in Gaza and later seeking evidence to justify the killings.
Nadav Weiman, the group's executive director, made the allegations in an interview with France 24, where he described “retrospective incrimination” as a process in which Palestinians killed during Israeli military operations are subsequently identified as Hamas members to justify the attacks.
Asked to explain the process, Weiman said the Israeli military and its spokespersons seek to establish the identities and alleged affiliations of people killed in air strikes, including attacks that cause large numbers of civilian casualties.
“First, we shoot, we kill, and then we think, and then we try to find a reason why it happened,” Weiman said.
He cited the Israeli military's operations around Nasser Hospital, the killing of 15 paramedics in Rafah and air strikes in Gaza that he said killed large numbers of civilians.
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Breaking the Silence is an Israeli nongovernmental organisation founded by former and serving Israeli military personnel.
According to Weiman, after the killings, the identities of those killed are obtained by Israeli intelligence and are then examined for possible links to Hamas or other armed groups to justify the incident.
“And then the IDF starts to look for evidence,” he said, describing possible justifications including a person being "near a building" identified as belonging to Hamas, having a family member linked to Hamas, or having previously been on a payroll.
“And then the IDF tries to build a case around certain individuals to say 'We attacked because there were Hamas members over there'," Weiman said.
He said that the soldiers carrying out attacks do not have the information that is later used to justify the killings.
“Now, I don't think that the tank that fired the tank shells at the hospital had a booklet with 25,000 Hamas members, and they looked photo after photo and said, 'Ah, there are Hamas members over there',” Weiman said.
“This is something that we do after we shoot.”
Weiman said that these "permissive rules of engagement" have enabled widespread violations of human rights during the war.
“Suddenly the IDF spokesperson in the state of Israel needs to explain to the international community what we did over there, who are the targets for the attack,” Weiman said. “And that's why I said legitimisation before, because the IDF in the state of Israel wants international legitimisation to do what we are doing in Gaza.”
The organisation said soldiers' testimonies collected by the group indicate that what the military portrays as isolated incidents may instead reflect a systematic policy and broader practices on the ground.
Breaking the Silence said the same pattern of “retrospective incrimination” has appeared in soldiers' accounts collected by the organisation, with Palestinians allegedly being classified as terrorists after being killed, even when they were unarmed or under 18.
The organisation also said that since 7 October 2023, cameras in Gaza have been treated by the Israeli military as potential threats to its military operating on the ground, and under "permissive rules of engagement" have been treated as legitimate military targets.
It said that the high number of journalists killed by the Israeli military was a direct consequence of those rules, and the military's subsequent explanations were used to defend the actions internationally.
Breaking the Silence was established in 2004 by Israeli military veterans to provide serving and former soldiers and reservists with a confidential platform to recount their experiences in the occupied Palestinian territories.
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