During the Six Day War in 1967, the IDF was accused of killing captured Egyptian soldiers, fleeing soldiers, and civilians.[14] A few soldiers said that they had witnessed the execution of unarmed prisoners.
Meir Pa'il said that he knew of many instances in which soldiers had killed POWs or Arab civilians.
Arieh Biroh admitted to killing 49 Egyptian prisoners of war (in 1965) in the Sinai in interviews
Uri Milstein, an Israeli military historian, was reported[18] as claiming that there were many incidents in the 1967 war in which Egyptian soldiers were killed by Israeli troops after they had raised their hands in surrender. "It was not an official policy, but there was an atmosphere that it was okay to do it," Milstein said. "Some commanders decided to do it; others refused. But everyone knew about it.
In the 2008 2009 war:
The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict found that Israel, at least in part, targeted the people of Gaza as a whole.
Israel was widely criticized by human rights groups for using heavy firepower and causing hundreds of civilian casualties
A group of soldiers who took part in the conflict echoed the criticism through both the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence and a special report by Israeli filmmaker Nurit Kedar that was shown on Britain's Channel 4 in January 2011.[46][47] Israel was accused of having a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at the civilian population.
Some IDF soldiers, however, reported that they had been encouraged to shoot indiscriminately and disproportionately, and were ordered to "cleanse the neighbourhoods, the buildings, the area
On 24 March 2009, a report from the UN team responsible for the protection of children in war zones was released: it found "hundreds" of violations of the rights of children and accused Israeli soldiers of using children as human shields, bulldozing a home with a woman and child still inside, and shelling a building they had ordered civilians into a day earlier.
One case involved using an 11-year-old boy as a human shield, by forcing him to enter suspected buildings first and also inspect bags. The report also mentioned the boy was used as a shield when Israeli soldiers came under fire.[49][50] The Guardian has also received testimony from three Palestinian brothers aged 14, 15, and 16, who all claimed to have been used as human shields
The UK newspaper The Guardian conducted an investigation of its own, which, according to the paper, uncovered evidence of war crimes including the use of Palestinian children as human shields.[52] An Israeli military court later convicted two Israeli soldiers of using human shields,[53] which was outlawed by the Israeli Supreme court in 2005.
From 5 January, reports emerged of use by Israel of white phosphorus during the offensive, which was initially denied by Israel.
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