JERUSALEM — Two months after ending its assault on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army was confronted Thursday by the first public allegations from within its ranks of unwarranted killings and other abuses of Palestinian civilians.
The reports in a military institute's newsletter resembled accounts given by many Palestinians during and after the winter offensive. In gripping language cited by two Israeli newspapers, they appeared to support contentions by some human rights groups that Israel had violated the laws of war.
One squad leader said he argued with his commander over rules of engagement that allowed the army to clear out houses by shooting the residents without warning.
"When we entered a house, we were supposed to bust down the door and start shooting inside and just go up story by story," he was quoted as saying. "Each story, if we identify a person, we shoot them. I asked myself: 'How is this reasonable?' "
A second squad leader said that in a separate case a sniper shot and killed a woman and two children because of miscommunication with the Palestinians and between Israeli units. Soldiers quoted by the daily Haaretz also said wanton destruction of civilian property was common.
Israeli officials had earlier dismissed such accounts, as well as Palestinian claims that almost 1,000 civilians died in the assault, as Palestinian propaganda. Most Israelis supported the 22-day operation, which was aimed at halting years of rocket fire by Hamas militants. They blamed Hamas for civilian casualties in Gaza because its fighters operated in urban neighborhoods.
But the vivid firsthand reports by soldiers who took part in the fighting set off soul-searching in Israel and prompted the army's judge advocate-general to order a special investigation. The military had already launched its own broad review of its conduct during the war. In a statement Thursday, it said it was not aware of the reported incidents.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak repeated Israel's traditional description of its armed forces as "the most moral in the world."
But he added, "This does not mean that there are no irregularities, and I have no doubt that this will be studied seriously."
The soldiers gave their accounts last month at an assembly for students enrolled in a military preparatory school, the Yitzhak Rabin academy. A transcript of the session appeared this week in the academy's newsletter, and excerpts were published in the newspapers Thursday.
