Israeli soldiers describe clearance of ‘kill zone’ on Gaza’s edge

Israeli forces devastated agricultural areas and demolished whole neighborhoods in Gaza to establish a “kill zone” around the enclave, as stated in a Monday report citing soldiers discussing the severe tactics employed in the mission.

The report by the Israeli rights organization Breaking the Silence referenced soldiers who were deployed in Gaza while the buffer zone was established, which was expanded to a range of 800-1,500 meters within the enclave by December 2024 and has since been further broadened by Israeli forces.

Israel claims that the buffer zone surrounding Gaza is essential to avoid a recurrence of the October 7, 2023 attack by numerous Hamas-led militants and gunmen who breached the former 300 meter-deep buffer zone to target several Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip. The assault, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and 251 captives, was among the gravest security crises in Israel’s history.

The accounts were provided by soldiers deployed in Gaza at the close of 2023, shortly after Israeli forces entered the area, lasting until early 2024. It did not include the latest actions to significantly expand the territory controlled by the military.

During the initial expansion of the area, military personnel reported that forces employing bulldozers and large excavators, along with thousands of mines and explosives, obliterated approximately 3,500 structures, as well as agricultural and industrial sites that could have been essential for postwar rebuilding. According to a different report by the Israeli rights organization Gisha, approximately 35% of Gaza’s farmland, primarily located along the borders of the territory, was devastated.

“Essentially, everything gets mowed down, everything,” the report quoted one reserve soldier serving in the Armored Corps as saying. “Every building and every structure.” Another soldier said the area looked “like Hiroshima”.

One soldier from a combat engineering unit described the sense of shock he felt when he saw the destruction already wrought by the initial bombardment of the northern area of the Gaza Strip when his unit was first sent in to begin its clearance operation.

“It was surreal, even before we destroyed the houses when we went in. It was surreal, like you were in a movie,” he said.