New York Times reveals Israeli extermination order authorizing killing 20 civilians for each “combatant”
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/12/27/gdhz-d27.html

On Thursday, the New York Times published a detailed account reporting the existence of official Israeli military documents authorizing the killing of 20 non-combatants in every attack on a single presumed Hamas supporter, with the ratio in some cases reaching 100 to one.

The report makes clear that Israel has waged its war on Gaza as a war of extermination, with the killing of the civilian population through aerial bombardment a goal co-equal with the massacre of those who have taken up arms against the Israeli occupation.

The Times reported that within hours of the beginning of the October 7 attack, the IDF issued an unprecedented order authorizing the effectively unrestricted bombardment of civilian areas of Gaza.

“In each strike, the order said, officers had the authority to risk killing up to 20 civilians,” the Times wrote.

The order authorized the IDF to target figures vaguely associated with Hamas while they were at home with their families, creating the conditions for the systematic and deliberate massacre of entire households. “It meant, for example, that the military could target rank-and-file militants as they were at home surrounded by relatives and neighbors.”

The Times added that “senior commanders approved strikes on Hamas leaders that they knew would each endanger more than 100 noncombatants—crossing an extraordinary threshold for a contemporary Western military.”

Hamas launched long range ballistic missiles from Gaza on Jerusalem today.