Among the 158 airstrikes by the IDF since Tuesday morning against Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, there were instances in which it delayed or called off attacks to avoid civilian casualties.
In a video distributed to the media, the IDF highlighted one such instance in which it called off an attack to avoid striking two civilian minors. The target appeared to be rockets, or a rocket crew, in an outdoor area covered by a number of trees.
Watch: The moment an IAF pilot cancels a strike against Islamic Jihad terrorists because of the presence of children near the target. pic.twitter.com/geCzHjxWEU
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 11, 2023
Initially, one of the targeting officers connected to IAF Unit 200 could be heard saying that they were only one minute from firing on the target. Then another voice is heard identifying a child nearby and then identifies a second child.
Some of the children can be seen running around, and the original voice says multiple times to pause the attack. Eventually, the commander calls it off.
IDF waited until targeted Islamic Jihad commanders were away from civilians
In fact, the initiation of the counterstrike operation early Tuesday morning, with a weeklong delay since Islamic Jihad fired more than 100 rockets on Israel on May 2-3, was partially to wait until the three top Islamic Jihad commanders were all in areas with fewer nearby civilians.
Despite waiting, a number of family members and other civilians were killed during the attacks.
International laws of war stipulate the limiting of civilian casualties as much as possible. Nevertheless, some ancillary civilian casualties are permitted when the military target that is among them presents a sufficient advantage. What those terms mean is hotly debated.
On the one hand, Israel is criticized by many international bodies when civilians die from its attacks. On the other hand, the IDF has received compliments from other militaries for cutting-edge tactics to avoid civilian casualties and zero in on strikes.
About 25% of Islamic Jihad’s rockets landed within Gaza, harming Gazans or their property, the IDF said Thursday. The terrorist group’s rockets killed four Gazan civilians, ages 51, 16, 16 and 10, it said.
The statistics showed the poor quality of Islamic Jihad’s rockets and rocket crews, it added. They also indicated that Islamic Jihad regularly violates international laws of war by having its rocket crews in civilian areas in the Gaza Strip, as well as firing on Israeli civilians, rather than ensuring that they fire from areas where the rockets could not hit their own population, the IDF said.