The Israeli combat soldier saw his teammates yelling in celebration, congratulating one another. They had just struck a vehicle of Palestinians driving near the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip, killing everyone inside.

The reservist said scenes like this had become common after a fragile ceasefire took effect in October. In the weeks he was stationed in Gaza, he said, he saw soldiers relishing the chance to go after those who crossed — or came close to crossing — the Yellow Line that divides the Strip into Israeli-controlled land and Palestinian areas de facto under Hamas control.

“It was a jungle,” the soldier, in his 20s, told The Associated Press. “After the ceasefire, the order was: If someone crosses the line, you shoot them.”

As diplomatic efforts to strengthen the deal have stalled, three soldiers described to AP a sense of confusion in the embattled territory, with a lack of clarity on rules of engagement around the Yellow Line. Some commanders paid lip service to the agreement, the soldiers said, while privately voicing a desire for the war in Gaza to continue. Sometimes, troops were too far away or acted too quickly to recognize who they were shooting, one soldier said — a concern echoed in comments from a whistleblower group of veterans.

The soldiers’ accounts are a rare glimpse into what’s happened in the Israeli-controlled part of Gaza since the deal went into effect seven months ago. The soldiers — reservists deployed throughout Gaza between October and January who’ve since returned — spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared being ostracized over their comments. They said they were speaking out because they were angered and saddened by what they saw.

AP has reported shootings of Palestinian civilians, including children playing, close to the Yellow Line. And the soldiers said it felt like the killings never stopped amid the tenuous deal.

“To call it a ceasefire is a joke,” one soldier told AP.

When the ceasefire went into effect, Israel withdrew troops to a buffer zone demarcated by a Yellow Line, giving it control of just over half the strip. Under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan, Israeli forces are meant to complete a fuller withdrawal once a planned International Stabilization Force is deployed to take responsibility for the enclave’s security, except for a security perimeter that will remain until Gaza is completely secure.

Diplomats........

© The Times of Israel