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Israeli Military Ordered Soldiers in Gaza to “Shoot to Kill” Every Man They Saw

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11.05.2026

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The Israeli military ordered soldiers in Gaza to “shoot to kill” any man they saw, and to “use their judgment” with women and children, according to an investigative documentary on Israeli soldiers’ killing of three Israeli hostages in Gaza.

In an hour-long documentary broadcast on Israel’s Channel 13, the mother of one of the hostages killed in Gaza by Israeli soldiers in December 2023 said she had spoken with soldiers involved and that each of them recounted the same order from the military. “I heard this from every soldier who spoke to me,” she said. “They received an unequivocal order: Everything you see — and you will not hesitate, even if they’re civilians — you shoot to kill,” she told the interviewer.

Multiple Israeli soldiers shot and killed the three hostages in Gaza in December 2023, despite the fact that the hostages were waving a white flag and calling out in Hebrew.

Iris Haim, the mother of Yotam Haim, who was killed in the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza on December 15 along with the two other hostages, also spoke with the soldier who shot her son. “A man, doesn’t matter what age, right away… [shoot] to kill,” said the soldier, whose conversation was aired on the program. “We were even told that if it’s a........

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