Top IDF lawyer says troops not adequately accounting for civilians before Gaza strikes

2 January 2025, 2:55 am

32 Edit

Palestinian children inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike the previous night, in Jabalia, in the central Gaza Strip on January 1, 202. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi penned a letter to the head of the IDF Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman stating that the army has not adequately assessed the size of the civilian population in the areas where it has operated throughout the Gaza Strip, Army Radio reports.

Tomer-Yerushalmi points to the IDF’s recent assessment that 3,000 civilians remained in the area of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, when the actual number was 14,000.

The incorrect IDF assessment has hampered the IDF’s ability to assess the scope of collateral damage in strikes on terror targets, she says. It has also led to far less aid than needed being allowed into the area by the IDF.

Army Radio reports that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi ordered an internal probe into the matter following receipt of the letter.

The probe found that IDF strikes did not end up leading to an excess in civilian casualties and that enough aid has entered Beit Lahiya.

Nonetheless, Halevi directed that an external panel look into the matter, ostensibly recognizing that Tomer-Yerushalmi had in fact exposed problems in the IDF’s conduct.