Israeli soldiers reveal using bulldozers to run over bodies, dead or alive, in Gaza, CNN report shows
A CNN report has revealed how Israeli soldiers in Gaza used bulldozers to clear paths, running over both the living and dead. The soldiers’ accounts highlight the mental toll of the war, but the report has drawn criticism for focusing on Israeli trauma while overlooking the suffering of Palestinians.
A CNN report has revealed how Israeli soldiers in Gaza used bulldozers to clear paths, running over both the living and dead. The soldiers’ accounts highlight the mental toll of the war, but the report has drawn criticism for focusing on Israeli trauma while overlooking the suffering of Palestinians.
A
recent CNN report has revealed disturbing accounts from Israeli soldiers who fought in Gaza, disclosing how bulldozers were used to clear paths by running over bodies, whether dead or alive.
These testimonies offer insight into the immense psychological toll that the conflict has taken on Israeli soldiers. However, the framing of the article, focusing on the trauma endured by Israeli combatants, has drawn significant criticism for its perceived neglect of Palestinian suffering.
One soldier, Eliran Mizrahi, a 40-year-old reservist deployed to Gaza after Hamas’ attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, returned home deeply traumatised.
His family told CNN that Mizrahi, a father of four, took his own life six months after being deployed. He had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but struggled with the mental burden of what he witnessed and participated in during the war.
Mizrahi’s mother, Jenny, said that despite leaving Gaza, her son could not escape the psychological damage it caused. “He got out of Gaza, but Gaza did not get out of him,” she said, blaming his death on post-trauma from the war.
Mizrahi’s account, along with those of other soldiers, has highlighted the mental health crisis now affecting thousands of Israeli soldiers who served in the conflict.
A key part of Mizrahi’s experience involved operating a D-9 bulldozer, a massive armoured vehicle used for demolishing buildings and clearing paths.
His friend and fellow operator, Guy Zaken, provided a grim account of their work in Gaza, saying they often had to drive over bodies, dead or alive, while clearing rubble. “We saw very difficult things,” Zaken said. “Things that are hard to accept.”
Zaken spoke openly about the long-lasting psychological trauma he and his comrades now endure.
In testimony to the Israeli parliament, he recounted that many soldiers had to run over people “in the hundreds” while in Gaza. The brutality of these actions left deep mental scars, with Zaken sharing that he can no longer eat meat, as it reminds him of the crushed bodies, which he referred to as “meat.”
The article highlighted the growing mental health crisis among Israeli soldiers, citing Mizrahi’s case as an example of the wider issue.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged that thousands of soldiers are suffering from PTSD or mental illnesses, but official figures on suicides have not been provided. Soldiers and medics have voiced concerns about the lack of adequate mental health care, with many struggling to adjust to civilian life after the horrors of urban warfare in Gaza.
CNN’s report on the IDF practices echoes
findings from a March 2024 Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report, which documented multiple instances where the Israeli army ran over Palestinians with military vehicles.
One such incident, on 29 February 2024, involved a Palestinian man in Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood who was arrested, bound, and deliberately run over by a military bulldozer while still alive, according to eyewitnesses.
The Euro-Med report detailed several similar cases, including an attack on the Ghannam family in Khan Younis, where an Israeli tank ran over a caravan, killing a father and his daughter as they slept.
Another incident involved displaced people in Beit Lahia being crushed by Israeli tanks and bulldozers in December 2023.
These actions, which Euro-Med denounced as part of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians, were classified as war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/20...odies-dead-or-alive-in-gaza-cnn-report-shows/