“Hysterical bombing” and “fiery curtain”… Israeli military testimonies about the first days of the Gaza war | news

“The bombing of Gaza at the beginning of the war was hysterical,” is a phrase used by Erez Venter, head of the Operational Planning Division in the Southern Command of the Israeli army, summarizing the features of the first phase of the war of extermination, in a description that reflects the scale of the intense and unprecedented bombing that targeted the Strip.

On October 8, 2023, Israel began a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which was described as genocide, resulting in more than 72,000 martyrs and more than 172,000 wounded, in addition to widespread destruction that affected about 90% of the civilian infrastructure in the Strip.

The person responsible for developing military plans for the ground operation in Gaza explained, in a report published by the Israeli Channel 14, that this bombing was “motivated by the desire to inflict the greatest amount of harm, and because of a lack of trust,” in reference to the nature of the approach that governed the operations at the beginning.

He also pointed out that the forces that entered the sector, especially during the first ground maneuver, received what he described as a “fire curtain,” considering that the level of artillery bombardment was unprecedented in the history of modern wars, as he put it.

He added that the intensity of the fire used in military operations inside Gaza “has not been seen for very, very many years in contemporary wars, and that it will take many decades to know the extent of the hell that Gaza has been subjected to,” which, according to him, reflects the intensity of the fire that accompanied the ground incursion from its early stages.

The video published by the channel received widespread interaction among Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, where it sparked a wave of angry reactions on social media platforms, in light of the continuation of the war and the widespread destruction it caused and an extremely harsh humanitarian reality in the Strip.

Tweeters said that Erez Venter’s statements represent an explicit “acknowledgment” of the nature of what happened during the early stages of the war on Gaza, considering that they reveal, from within the Israeli military establishment, an aspect of the extent of the firepower used.

According to them, the intense bombing that the Strip witnessed was “unparalleled on Earth,” considering that these statements shed light on part of what was committed during that period.

Others added that these statements, issued by a senior military official, reinforce the accounts documented by residents and human rights bodies about the intensity and breadth of the bombing, noting that they gain special importance because they come from within the Israeli military establishment itself.

Others pointed out that these statements are not necessary to confirm what happened, stressing that they “do not need Erez Winter’s words,” in light of what they described as “the violent bombing that took place live on air in front of the world’s eyes.”

They added that the scenes of widespread destruction documented by cameras during the war were sufficient to provide a clear picture of the scale and intensity of the military operations, considering that what happened in Gaza was exposed to the world without the need for subsequent confessions.

Activists said that what happened reflects, as they described it, “a criminal, terrorist, and shameless enemy at the same time,” stressing that despite the widespread crimes committed, it did not achieve its field goals.

They added that what they described as the failure to achieve “victory” comes in light of continued field steadfastness, considering that the course of the war did not give the other party the results it was seeking.

Bloggers confirmed that from the first day of the war, Israel pursued a policy of mass killing that targeted residents indiscriminately and without red lines, focusing on areas densely populated with displaced persons, using destructive weapons in residential areas, including concussion bombs, which led to mass killing and widespread destruction.