{"id":53734,"date":"2023-11-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/?p=53734"},"modified":"2023-11-14T22:21:15","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T22:21:15","slug":"israels-attack-on-gaza-is-indiscriminate-warns-ex-british-army-brigadier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/israels-attack-on-gaza-is-indiscriminate-warns-ex-british-army-brigadier\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s attack on Gaza is \u2018indiscriminate\u2019, warns ex-British Army brigadier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
A former British army brigadier with extensive front line experience has expressed concern at Israel\u2019s military offensive in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Deverell CBE, who worked in Palestine\u2019s West Bank on projects designed to improve local counter terrorist capability, warned that Israel is likely to be taking \u201ccompletely inadequate\u201d steps to protect civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deverell told Declassified<\/em> that \u201cair and artillery strikes on Gaza\u201d by the Israel Defence Force (IDF) could be judged as \u201cfundamentally indiscriminate\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His criticism comes as more than 11,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed by Israel\u2019s retaliatory strikes on Gaza since October 7, when Hamas gunmen killed around 1,200 Israelis and took over 200 hostage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thousands of Palestinian children have died in the subsequent airstrikes and shelling of densely populated parts of Gaza, which have seen refugee camps and hospitals struck repeatedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deverell warned: \u201cIt seems that efforts that the IDF claims are being made to minimise civilian casualties might well be completely inadequate. In a military world where very precise munitions are available, I would think that the use of relatively \u2018dumb\u2019 missiles, bombs and artillery shells that cause the loss of innocent lives at scale may no longer be legally acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deverell also stated: \u201cIn any event, many years on operations round the world taught me that victory depends on rather more than mere military force. There has to be an acceptable and enduring political ingredient for the Gazans – which, thus far, is absent from Israeli government strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The IDF acknowledges that Palestinian civilians have died in its offensive, but claims Hamas operatives were the intended targets and blames the militant group for using \u201chuman shields\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n