The Israeli military loosened its rules of engagement at the onset of its attacks on Gaza after Oct. 7, permitting commanders to launch attacks on targets, in disregard of the higher risk of civilian casualties, a report said Thursday.
The military granted mid-ranking officers the authority to strike a wide range of Hamas targets where up to 20 civilians risked being killed, The New York Times said.
The order meant for example that the military could target rank-and-file fighters while they were at home surrounded by relatives and neighbors, instead of only when they were alone outside, the newspaper said.
It said the report was based on interviews with more than 100 soldiers and officials, including more than 25 people who helped select and vet targets.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The New York Times said the military acknowledged that the rules of engagement had changed after Oct. 7 but claimed its forces had "consistently been employing means and methods that adhere to the rules of law."
Israel's genocidal attacks in response to Hamas's Oct. 7 attack have killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded more than 107,000, according to Gaza health ministry figures, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and laid waste to much of the coastal enclave.
In addition to raising the number of civilian casualties that could be risked in a single attack, The New York Times said the military removed a limit on the cumulative number of civilians that its strikes could put at risk each day.
On a few occasions, the military high command approved strikes that they knew would put as many as 100 civilian lives at risk, the newspaper said.
It said the military "often relied on a crude statistical model to assess the risk of civilian harm," mainly depending on estimates of cellphone usage rather than extensive surveillance of a single building.
From November 2023 onward, the rules were tightened, including halving the number of civilian casualties that could be risked in attacks on low-level targets, the newspaper said. It added that the rules remained far more permissive than before the war.
Israel's relentless bombardment resulted in the death of a record number of civilians and caused extensive damage to densely populated residential neighborhoods. Israel's operations, which show no sign of abating, have drawn sharp criticism from regional and international actors, who warn of the catastrophic humanitarian toll on civilians caught in the crossfire.
Previous reports based on testimony by Israeli soldiers noted that the Israeli military uses Palestinian civilians, including teenagers, as human shields in Gaza.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
