A report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published on Friday alleges that Israeli soldiers have been ordered by their commanders to fire on unarmed Palestinians gathered near aid distribution centers in the Gaza Strip.

The investigation includes harrowing testimonies from multiple Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel—from rank-and-file soldiers to officers—stationed near sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private organization backed by Israel and the United States. The United Nations has condemned the foundation over the high number of civilian casualties reported around its aid centers.

According to the soldiers, who spoke to Haaretz on condition of anonymity, the GHF distribution points open for just one hour each morning. During this window, Palestinians are allowed to collect food and supplies. Outside of those times, soldiers claimed they were ordered to fire on civilians attempting to line up—regardless of whether they posed a threat.

Gunfire around the GHF aid sites has reportedly become routine since May 27. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,000 injured in the vicinity of these centers in less than a month.

One Israeli soldier described the situation as follows:

“It’s a killing field,” he said. “Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day. They’re treated like a hostile force—no crowd-control measures, no tear gas—just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars. Then, once the center opens, the shooting stops, and they know they can approach. Our form of communication is gunfire.”

He added that soldiers open fire early in the morning on anyone who tries to form a line from a few hundred meters away.

“But there’s no danger to the forces,” he continued. “I’m not aware of a single instance of return fire. There’s no enemy, no weapons.”

Eyewitness reports have echoed those accounts. On June 3, a Palestinian man near a GHF aid center in Rafah told the BBC that people began “collapsing” around him from Israeli fire. He described Israeli tanks, drones, and soldiers opening fire on the crowd.

A separate attack near Khan Younis on June 17 was described by witnesses as a “massacre.”

An Israeli officer voiced deep frustration with the military's approach:

“Working with a civilian population when your only means of interaction is opening fire—that’s highly problematic, to say the least. It’s neither ethically nor morally acceptable for people to have to reach, or fail to reach, a humanitarian zone under tank fire, snipers and mortar shells.”

According to the report, Brig. Gen. Yehuda Vach, commander of the IDF’s 252nd Division, has been linked to the directives surrounding the attacks.

Soldiers also described being ordered to use “warning fire” to disperse crowds. In practice, they said, this often results in Palestinians being killed—sometimes as they try to flee.

“Every time we fire, there are casualties and deaths, and when someone asks why a shell is necessary, there’s never a good answer,” one soldier told Haaretz.

The report also alleges that contractors would be given money based on how many buildings they destroy in Gaza. Almost all of the enclave’s buildings from residential to educational and medical have been destroyed.

"Today, any private contractor working in Gaza with engineering equipment receives 5,000 [roughly $1,500] shekels for every house they demolish," another soldier said. "They're making a fortune. From their perspective, any moment where they don't demolish houses is a loss of money, and the forces have to secure their work. The contractors, who act like a kind of sheriff, demolish wherever they want along the entire front."

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz condemned the Haaretz report as “blood libels,” with the IDF saying in a statement it “strongly rejects” the content of the report.

The added that “any allegation of a deviation from the law or IDF directives will be thoroughly examined, and further action will be taken as necessary. The allegations of deliberate fire toward civilians presented in the article are not recognized in the field."