Israeli Soldiers: ‘…We Had to Kill Arabs’
CrossFireArabia- June 5, 2026
Newly disclosed testimonies by Israeli soldiers and archival documents published by Israeli newspaper Haaretz have shed new light on the displacement of Palestinians and Syrians during and after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, with accounts describing killings, expulsions, destruction of villages and widespread looting.
The investigation, published ahead of the 59th anniversary of the war and authored by Adam Raz, a researcher at the Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research, is based on previously unpublished soldiers’ testimonies, military records, government correspondence and archival material.
According to the report, approximately 300,000 Arabs were expelled or displaced from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights during and after the June 1967 war.
Haaretz said many of the testimonies originated from discussions held among Israeli soldiers in kibbutzim, Israel’s collective farming communities, shortly after the war. While some excerpts later appeared in the influential 1967 book, The Seventh Day: Soldiers Talk about the Six-Day War, numerous accounts describing alleged war crimes remained unpublished for decades.
Several testimonies cited by the newspaper describe killings of prisoners, civilians and refugees. One soldier was quoted as saying: “At first I wasn’t willing to execute Arabs who weren’t resisting. Then we came to the conclusion that we had to kill.”
Another soldier described operations in Gaza after the war, saying: “Human lives didn’t matter. You could kill, there was no law. No one would say a word to you.”
A third testimony referred to what the soldier described as “punitive expeditions” in Gaza’s refugee camps. “We caught guys, lined them up and eliminated them. In retrospect, it looks like murder,” he said.
Shoot-at-sight orders for West Bank returnees
The report also cites testimonies and archival documents alleging that Israeli forces were ordered to prevent Palestinians who had fled across the Jordan River from returning to the West Bank after the fighting ended.
According to Haaretz, soldiers received instructions to shoot people attempting to cross back into the territory.
The newspaper cited testimony later published by former Israeli lawmaker Uri Avnery, who quoted a soldier as saying troops had received orders to “shoot, to kill, without prior warning.”
Another soldier recalled questioning whether such orders applied even if families with children were crossing the river. According to the testimony, he asked: “If I hear babies crying, should I shoot then too?” and was told: “Don’t be a girl.”
Haaretz said military records indicated that by early September 1967, nearly 150 Palestinians had been killed while attempting to return from Jordan. The newspaper also cited statements by senior Israeli military officials acknowledging the existence of orders aimed at preventing refugee returns.
According to the investigation, displacement during the war was not solely the result of battlefield conditions. The report cites government discussions and military documents suggesting that senior Israeli political and military leaders viewed the departure of Arab residents as desirable and, in some cases, encouraged or facilitated it.
Among the most prominent examples highlighted by the report was the expulsion of residents from the Latrun villages of Imwas, Yalo and Beit Nuba west of Jerusalem. The villages were captured during the war and their approximately 8,000 residents were ordered to leave, according to the investigation.
Haaretz reported that the villages were subsequently demolished and their inhabitants prevented from returning. The area later became the site of Canada Park.
‘Population transfer’
The newspaper also cited testimony from Ishai Amrami, a deputy battalion commander during the war, who later described what he witnessed as “an attempt at massive population transfer.”
The investigation further details events in Qalqilya and other communities near the Green Line, where residents were allegedly encouraged or forced to leave through military pressure, loudspeaker announcements, transportation arrangements and destruction of homes.
According to the report, tens of thousands of Palestinians also fled or were displaced from refugee camps in the Jericho area and elsewhere in the West Bank. Many carried memories of the 1948 Nakba and feared another permanent displacement.
The report revisits events in Gaza as well, where soldiers described raids, arrests and killings in refugee camps after the war. One soldier was quoted as saying: “We would roam through refugee camps in Gaza and carry out purges.”
Another testimony stated: “Every man we saw was a combatant,” while acknowledging that civilians may also have been among those killed.
Beyond the Palestinian territories, Haaretz reported that approximately 120,000 Syrians left or were expelled from the Golan Heights after Israeli forces captured the territory from Syria.
The newspaper cited military documents and testimonies indicating that villages in the Golan Heights were later demolished to prevent residents from returning. According to the report, Israeli commander Elad Peled later described a decision to bring in bulldozers and destroy villages “so there would be nowhere to return.”
Haaretz also cited reports submitted by Syria to the United Nations and records from the International Committee of the Red Cross alleging intimidation, forced displacement, looting and destruction of civilian property in the occupied territory.
Israel warned of legal repercussions
The investigation further describes what it says was widespread looting in areas captured during the war. According to the report, soldiers, civilians and local authorities participated in the removal of property from Palestinian and Syrian homes, schools, businesses and public institutions.
Among the documents cited is a previously unpublished 1967 letter by Theodor Meron, then legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry. According to Haaretz, Meron warned that expulsions of civilians constituted “a serious violation of the Geneva Convention” and could create diplomatic complications for Israel.
The report says Israeli officials were aware of legal concerns surrounding the expulsions but nevertheless approved measures aimed at preventing displaced populations from returning and consolidating control over newly occupied territories.
The Six-Day War began on June 5, 1967, and ended with Israel capturing the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. While Israel later returned Sinai to Egypt under the 1979 peace treaty, it continues to occupy the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
For Palestinians, the conflict is remembered as the Naksa, or setback, which triggered a new wave of displacement nearly two decades after the 1948 Nakba and remains a defining event in collective Palestinian memory. Anadolu
Israeli Capitan Killed, 7 Soldiers Injured in Lebanon
- CrossFireArabia
- June 2, 2026
The Israeli army acknowledged, Monday, the death of a captain and medical doctor in the Givati Brigade and the wounding of seven other soldiers, including four officers and a battalion commander, in an attack carried out by Hezbollah using explosive-laden drones.
In a statement, the army said the deceased was a medic from the Shaked Battalion (424) of the Givati Brigade and was killed during fighting in southern Lebanon.
Israeli Army Radio reported that Hezbollah launched six explosive-laden drones around noon, Monday, toward a group of soldiers and a Nimer armored vehicle belonging to the Givati Brigade, which was stationed on the outskirts of the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiya, near the Shaqif site.
The radio added that among those seriously wounded were the operations officer of the Shaked Battalion and a platoon commander in the same battalion, while the battalion commander, a lieutenant colonel, was also wounded.
This attack comes a day after the Israeli army radio also announced the death of a soldier from the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit and the wounding of four other soldiers in an explosion caused by an explosive-laden drone that targeted them, Saturday, evening in the Zawtar al-Sharqiya area of southern Lebanon.
The southern Lebanese front is witnessing a continuous escalation, amid ongoing clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli occupation forces according to Qudspress.
Football and Borrowed Boots!
- CrossFireArabia
- May 31, 2026
Matches organised by a former professional player are providing a brief respite from the harsh reality of life for the thousands living in overcrowded tents, schools or damaged buildings in the shattered Occupied Palestinian Territory of Gaza.
In the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, where tents stretch across the sand and snaking queues form for water and food, Asaad Al-Azzabi prepares for a match a world away from what he once knew.
Before the war, Mr. Al-Azzabi played for Al-Tajammu Club in Rafah, where he and his teammates had access to pitches, training halls, coaches and equipment.
Borrowed boots
Now, he’s lucky if he can find boots to play in. “Sometimes I borrow a pair from a friend or patch them up with tape,” he says.
His home is now a tent in Al-Rahma Camp, a shelter for people displaced from Rafah, where access to clean water and sanitation services is scarce. He lives alone, after his wife left for Jordan with their son, who has cancer, to seek treatment.
According to UN data, around 1.7 million people are living in around 1,600 displacement sites across the Gaza Strip, most of them in temporary or informal locations. Most residents rely on water brought in by truck and are forced to cope with restrictions on the entry of equipment, fuel and repair materials.
Amid the struggle to meet basic needs, Mr. Al-Azzabi is preparing for the match with nearby Sheikh Al-Eid Camp. He explains the game plan to his players by drawing on the sand, before the team sets off on foot toward a pitch located among the tents of displaced people.
The match appears to be more than a sporting activity – it is a respite from the daily hardships of life in the camps.
Children and young men gather around the sandy pitch, applauding players, some of whom arrived after spending hours standing in queues for food, water or battery charging.
Something out of nothing
Referee Alaa Abu Taha, a referee with the Palestinian Football Association and a displaced resident of Rafah, says football has become the “only outlet” for many people in Gaza.
“With the most limited resources, we try to play. Now there is no sports infrastructure. The pitch we are standing on now was originally prepared for basketball and volleyball, but our people create everything out of nothing,” he says.
Gaza’s sports sector has suffered widespread destruction since the outbreak of the war. According to the Palestinian Football Association, hundreds of athletes have been killed, including many footballers, while hundreds of sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed, including pitches, club headquarters and training halls.
In Al-Mawasi these losses have not prevented players from organising a championship between displacement camps.
The big match
The match kicks off in front of a small crowd of displaced spectators, with Mr. Al-Azzabi taking part in boots held together by plastic tape. At the end of the match, Al-Rahma Camp defeats Sheikh Al-Eid Camp 2–1.
After the final whistle, young men from the camp lift him and his teammates onto their shoulders, while children and young people celebrate among the tents. For a few brief moments, the sound of displacement recedes from the scene, and football emerges as a rare space for joy.
“Under these difficult circumstances, to be able to come out and play a match like this is a very good thing,” says Mr. Al-Azzabi. “Congratulations to our camp. I dedicate this championship to my wife and son in Jordan, and I wish my son a speedy recovery.”
For him, the game is more than a sporting victory. It is a message to his distant family and an attempt to preserve what remains of his life as a former player, chasing the ball as if it were the last thing connecting him to who he was before the war. UN News
Netanyahu Wants to Control 70% of Gaza
- CrossFireArabia
- May 28, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Thursday that Israel currently controls 60% of the Gaza Strip and signaled plans to expand it further to 70%.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, Netanyahu said during a seminar in the Jordan Valley: “We currently control 60% of the Gaza Strip, and my directives are to move toward controlling 70%.”
He did not elaborate on how such plans would be implemented.
The Israeli army announced in October last year that it controlled 53% of the Gaza Strip after redeploying to the so-called “yellow line” under the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza.
The arrangement envisioned further Israeli withdrawals under the second phase, launched in January. The “yellow line” refers to a temporary separation zone in eastern Gaza dividing areas under Israeli military control from areas where Palestinians are allowed to remain.
But Palestinian sources say that the boundary has been steadily pushed westward in recent months.
Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told Anadolu that Israel has shifted the line by an additional 8% to 9% into Gaza’s territory, raising the area under Israeli control to more than 60% according to Anadolu.
The change has reduced the space available to Palestinians to roughly 38% of the enclave, intensifying an already severe humanitarian crisis.
Israel launched a genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023, killing more than 72,000 Palestinians and injuring over 172,000 others, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian figures.
