LONDON: Videos of Israeli soldiers openly confessing to targeting Palestinian children have sparked widespread outrage across social media platforms.
In one particularly distressing recording, an Israeli soldier is seen admitting on camera his intention to harm an infant, ultimately resorting to killing a 12-year-old Palestinian girl when unable to locate one.
In the footage circulating on social media, the soldier is heard telling a comrade: “We are looking for babies, but there are no babies left.”
The unseen person off-camera requests clarification, prompting the soldier to respond: “Maybe I killed a girl who was 12 years old, but we are looking for the babies.”
Israeli soldiers boasts and laughs because he killed a 12 year old Palestinian girl…
“We are looking for babies but there is no babies left, I killed a girl that was 12, but we’re looking for babies”… pic.twitter.com/qyaLFhJCVS
— Pelham (@Resist_05) December 28, 2023
Another video, met with stark condemnation, features a different soldier proudly admitting to shooting two children playing football in the Gaza Strip. The soldier explains: “I just went to Gaza, and there were two little girls playing football. So, what did I do? I took my weapon and shot them in the head.”
جندي صهيوني يعترف بقتل طفلين في غزة بإطلاق النار على رأسيهما أثناء لعبهما كرة القدم#خبرني pic.twitter.com/6FdYI60iFI
— خبرني Khaberni (@khaberni) December 28, 2023
The videos have sparked widespread condemnation, with some social media users calling for accountability for war crimes.
The Israeli army is under intense scrutiny for its actions in Gaza, with several videos surfacing of Israel Defense Forces soldiers mocking Palestinians and highlighting the harsh conditions they are forced to endure.
Earlier in December, a video emerged of an Israeli soldier destroying remaining items inside a toy store in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Another clip, seemingly showing an IDF soldier celebrating his daughter’s second birthday by detonating a house in Gaza, went viral across websites and social media.
These actions have been condemned by the international community as an attempt to “humiliate” Palestinians in “revenge” for the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
“These videos and their content have no military value to Israelis,” wrote Daoud Kuttab, an award-winning Palestinian journalist and the director of Community Media Network, in an Arab News column published earlier in December.
In an investigation, Israeli newspaper Haaretz exposed a racist social media account allegedly operated by the IDF military. The channel, named “72 Virgins — Uncensored,” has been used by the Israeli army to share graphic content depicting the killing of Hamas members and the destruction of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces have intensified attacks in central and southern areas of Gaza, causing distress among residents who fear further ground incursions into densely populated zones already housing tens of thousands of people displaced by the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
According to Palestinian health authorities, the toll from Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours stands at 210 confirmed deaths, escalating the war’s casualties to 21,320 individuals, nearly 1 percent of Gaza’s population. There are fears that many more may be trapped beneath the rubble.
