The Israeli army used reckless force during the Gaza Strip war in December 2008 - January 2009, leading to the needless killings of many Palestinians and huge damages to properties and infrasrstructure, a group of former Israeli troops calimed in a report published Wednesday.
In testimonies collected by the organization Breaking the Silence, formed by Israeli army reservists, troops who took part in the war described destroying homes for no reason and using firepower beyond what was neede, the AP reported.
The Israeli army dismissed the report, accusing the group of "defaming and slandering the IDF and its commanders." The military "regrets the fact that yet another human rights organization is presenting to Israel and the world a report based on anonymous and general testimonies, without investigating their details or credibility," read the statement.
Accordig to Breaking the Silence, the Israeli public should know what troops saw during the fighting. "We believe that the existence of a moral society clearly requires a profound, honest discussion, of which the voice of soldiers on the ground is an inseparable part," the group said in the report.
More than 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 900 civilians, were killed during the war.
