Israeli soldiers describe clearance of 'kill zone' on Gaza's edge

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Israeli soldiers describe clearance of 'kill zone' on Gaza's edge

By James Mackenzie
April 7, 2025 8:02 AM EDT Updated 12 min ago

JERUSALEM, April 7 (Reuters) - Israeli troops flattened farmland and cleared entire residential districts in Gaza to open a "kill zone" around the enclave, according to a report on Monday that quoted soldiers testifying about the harsh methods used in the operation.

The report, from the Israeli rights group Breaking the Silence, cited soldiers who served in Gaza during the creation of the buffer zone, which was extended to between 800-1,500 metres inside the enclave by December 2024 and which has since been expanded further by Israeli troops.

Israel says the buffer zone encircling Gaza is needed to prevent a repeat of the October 7, 2023 attack by thousands of Hamas-led fighters and gunmen who poured across the previous 300 metre-deep buffer zone to assault a string of Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip. The attack, which killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, was one of the worst security disasters in Israel's history.

"The borderline is a kill zone, a lower area, a lowland," the report quotes a captain in the Armored Corps as saying. "We have a commanding view of it, and they do too."

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-soldiers-describe-clearance-kill-zone-gazas-edge-2025-04-07/