Google Earth<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n The destruction in Khuza\u2019a, which lies to the east of Khan Younis, is unmistakable in satellite imagery, with the destruction of hundreds of buildings cleaving a line marking the zone\u2019s perimeter. <\/p>\n
\u201cResidential buildings, greenhouses, sheds, factories; you name it \u2013 it needs to be flat. That\u2019s the order,\u201d said the Sgt. Maj. in the 5th<\/sup> infantry brigade who deployed to Khuza\u2019a. \u201cExcept for that UNRWA school and that small water facility \u2013 for everything else, the directive was \u2018nothing left.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n The Israeli military has since destroyed more than 6,200 buildings in Gaza within 1 kilometer of the border, according to satellite analysis conducted by Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, researchers at the City University of New York and Oregon State University. <\/p>\n
Adi Ben-Nun, a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said as of January, \u201call buildings in the buffer zone were demolished or heavily damaged.\u201d <\/p>\n
For Palestinians, setting foot inside the buffer zone can be a death sentence. <\/p>\n
Multiple soldiers described rules of engagement that authorized them to fire on Palestinians in the zone, regardless of whether they were armed or identified as combatants. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe reservists also always raised questions over whether this was communicated to them (the Palestinians): \u2018Do they know such a thing exists?\u2019\u201d the Sgt. 1st Class said. <\/p>\n
He said commanders never provided a clear answer, but the reality was clear. \u201cIt\u2019s not like they were told: The ridge before the border is (the line),\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
A Warrant Officer in the Armored Corps described Palestinians being shot for trying to pick khubeiza or mallow, an edible plant. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople were incriminated for having bags in their hands,\u201d the Warrant Officer told Breaking the Silence. \u201cGuy showed up with a bag? Incriminated, terrorist. I believe they came to pick khubeiza, but (the army says), \u2018No, they\u2019re hiding.\u2019 Boom.\u201d He said a tank fired at them from about 800 meters, narrowly missing. <\/p>\n
\u201cA kill zone is in essence the announcement of a party to the war that they won\u2019t take feasible precautions, that they won\u2019t verify the status of an individual before attacking them. And that definitely violates international law,\u201d said Dill, of Oxford University. <\/p>\n
\u201cSimply being present in a certain part of a combat theater does not amount to active participation in hostilities. And only active participation in hostilities makes a civilian lose their protection under international law.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hill-Cawthorne was equally unequivocal. <\/p>\n
\u201cA civilian does not lose their protected status, their immunity from attack merely because they enter an area that they\u2019re not allowed or that they\u2019re told not to enter,\u201d Hill-Cawthorne said. \u201cThe only way in which people lose that immunity from attack is if they directly participate in hostilities.\u201d <\/p>\n
For 40 years, Abdul Aziz al-Nabahin grew olives, oranges and guavas on five acres of land he had inherited from his ancestors on the outskirts of Al-Bureij, in central Gaza \u2013 about 600 meters from the Israeli border. <\/p>\n
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Satellite imagery shows the destruction in Al-Bureij in central Gaza.<\/span> Google Earth<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n His son Mahmoud recently married and had a 3-year-old daughter. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like paradise,\u201d al-Nabahin said. \u201cWe used to say, thank God. We were settled and satisfied.\u201d <\/p>\n
After being forced to flee earlier in the war, he returned to his farm during the January ceasefire only to find his home and farmland in ruins. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe found the house destroyed. The trees were bulldozed,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know where to sit, so we just stayed outside in the open.\u201d <\/p>\n
But he has lost so much more. <\/p>\n
In late June, al-Nabahin said Mahmoud had gone to collect firewood near their home when he was killed. An Israeli tank shell struck him and his cousin, who was grievously injured but survived. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Israelis deliberately targeted them. They knew they were only collecting wood \u2013 not resisting or fighting. Just a cart with wood, clearly visible. Still, they were targeted,\u201d al-Nabahin said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey kill anyone who goes there.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n
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