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Senior British military veteran says IDF ‘had no choice’ but to demolish regions of Rafah
Ian Liles OBE was part of a recent delegation of senior military officials to the Jewish State and Gaza
September 16, 2024 09:14
Ian Liles OBE was part of a recent delegation of senior military officials to the Jewish State and Gaza
September 16, 2024 09:14The IDF “had no military option” other than to demolish buildings in Rafah and blow up the tunnels beneath them, a senior British military officer has concluded following a trip to Israel and Gaza.
Ian Liles OBE, a retired senior army officer of 37 years, returned from the region just over a month ago as part of a delegation comprised of politicians and senior military officials from seven different countries belonging to NATO.
Liles says the recent “inexplicable decisions” championed by the UK government towards Israel - such as suspending some arms export licences to the country –prompted him last week to write about his experience in Israel.
Please read this thread by Brigadier Ian Liles @just_Liles, a highly experienced British Army officer who has fought in several wars. He tells the truth about Hamas’s war on Israel and the remarkable efforts by the @IDF to kill Hamas terrorists while minimising civilian deaths… https://t.co/AXpqaLjSNu
Liles describes Rafah as a city with “tens of kilometres of concreted tunnels costing millions of £” which, combined with homes being booby trapped, was evidence of “preparation for war over a protracted period”.
“The IDF had no military option but to drop the houses and blow up the tunnels once they were cleared of hostages,” Liles writes.
He says his party was briefed on IDF targeting, “the go, no go for release of weapons was stringent to avoid civilian casualties,” with most strikes being carried out with precision munitions.
Everywhere personal belongings scattered. A mug belonging to an old man whose house was destroyed, he was brutally kidnapped. A pair of spectacles dropped in the panic to escape the butchery. A child’s toy abandoned in the street. A simple candle holder used to light a window. pic.twitter.com/wHZ7rxpkuG
— Ian Liles OBE (@just_Liles) September 10, 2024
The IDF, Liles claims, avoids unnecessary collateral damage through “far more checks [and] balances than some of the operations I had been involved in as a coalition officer. Personally, I think the IDF has shown enormous restraint and been at pains to attack Hamas and not non-combatants.”
On the way to the dining room more burnt out houses and placards of the dead and the kidnapped. One family had been burnt alive, their charred bodies found with the parent’s arms around their children, trying to shield them from the flames. Imagine if this was your children. pic.twitter.com/V9IBoZjtuT
— Ian Liles OBE (@just_Liles) September 10, 2024
In a nearly four-decades-long military career, Liles saw combat in countries such as Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Afghanistan.
Liles also claimed “there is NO deliberate starvation” by Israel, contrary to claims that the IDF is withholding food or employing starvation tactics on the Gazan population.
“The Rafah crossing was reopened by the Israelis to facilitate humanitarian aid getting into Gaza. They built kilometres of roads to help the convoys. Enough food is getting into Gaza, internal distribution is the issue,” he said.
The IDF had no military option but to drop the houses and blow up the tunnels once they were cleared of hostages. We were briefed on IDF targeting. The go, no go for release of weapons was stringent to avoid civilian casualties. Most strikes are with precision munitions now.
— Ian Liles OBE (@just_Liles) September 10, 2024
One formerly vibrant kibbutz visited by the group, Liles described as “only burnt-out homes and reminders of the horror these poor people endured. Murder, rape, mutilation, all premeditated, all abhorrent, all evil.”