The Israeli army denies the accusations against it of randomly bombing Gaza
On the 73rd day of the war between it and the Hamas movement, the Israeli army denied the accusations directed against it of launching indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip, stressing that it doesn’t need the US to know that its duty to avoid civilian casualties.
During a meeting held at the Palmachim Air Base south of Tel Aviv with a few journalists, a senior Israeli army officer said, “Whatever their type, all the bombs we use are high-precision bombs”.
He explained that this high accuracy is due to several factors, including the Global Positioning System (GPS), cameras, and computers equipped with combat aircraft.
The spark of war between Hamas and Israel began on October 7 with an unprecedented attack launched by the Palestinian movement on the south of Israel from the Gaza Strip.
The attack on the Israeli side left about 1,140 people dead, the majority of whom were civilians.
During their attack, Hamas fighters took with them to Gaza about 390 people who were held hostage, and during the last ceasefire, and prisoners exchange deal, Hamas released 110 of these hostages.
Last week, US President Joe Biden criticized the Israeli indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip and stressed that the Israelis must be more careful to avoid civilian casualties.
According to a report prepared by US National Intelligence and its contents published in the media, nearly half of the munitions fired by Israeli aircraft on the Gaza Strip were unguided conventional bombs, colloquially called “dumb bombs”.
Commenting on this report, the senior Israeli officer said, “I know this debate about stupid bombs… There were no dumb bombs in this war”.
Washington also expressed its concern about reports that Israel used munitions containing white phosphorus during this war, which are incendiary weapons that are prohibited from being used against civilian targets.
On the other hand, the senior Israeli officer denied the veracity of these reports completely, however he admitted mistakes committed by the army in this war.
“Sometimes we didn’t understand the situation on the ground well, sometimes we missed our target, and sometimes we had a problem with the bomb,” he said.
This Israeli officer attributed the heavy civilian death toll in Gaza to the high population density in the Strip.
The Strip is home to 2.4 million people on an area not exceeding 362 square kilometers.
The Israeli officer said that in addition to the Israeli soldiers and hostages being held in the Strip, “there are also civilians and terrorists, all in a densely populated area… On the one hand, we have to hit hard and use a lot of ammunition, and on the other hand, we have to use it accurately”.
