Videos abound, but only one Israeli soldier charged with Gaza looting

Despite videos circulating online and multiple criminal investigations, only one Israeli soldier has been indicted for looting during Tel Aviv’s war in Gaza, and the case ended in a “plea deal,” the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said it obtained the data from the Israeli military establishment, adding that the army believes the single case represents “only the tip of an iceberg” in light of social media footage that appears to show soldiers vandalising and looting Palestinian property.

“Despite multiple cases of looting and property destruction by Israeli soldiers during the ground operations in Gaza and Lebanon, only one resulted in a criminal indictment, which was ultimately resolved Monday in a plea deal due to evidentiary difficulties and investigative failures,” the paper said.

Under “the plea deal,” a military court sentenced the reserve soldier to 60 days in prison and an additional 30 days of community military service, the newspaper said.

According to the indictment, a military unit in the summer of 2024 entered a home in Rafah in southern Gaza. During the incursion, a reserve soldier noticed a bag, opened it, took cash from inside and placed it in his personal bag.

In October, while on leave from combat duty, the unnamed reserve soldier attempted to deposit money into his personal bank account. About 5,000 shekels (approximately $1,600) of the amount were found to be counterfeit, raising suspicions among bank staff, Haaretz said.

The bank employee reported the matter to police, who referred the case to the military police. About six months later, the military police filed an indictment, the newspaper said.

The Israeli military claimed that it “takes any harm to civilian property, especially acts of looting, very seriously and strictly prohibits them.”

According to data obtained by Haaretz, at least six additional criminal investigations were opened in 2024 over suspicions of looting or vandalism by soldiers during the war, but none resulted in indictments.

Stolen items sold in Israel

The newspaper said information obtained through a freedom of information request submitted by the non-governmental organisation Hatzlacha showed that most looting cases involved theft of ammunition, Kalashnikov rifles and pistols. Other cases included the theft of motorcycles and, in one instance, electrical appliances taken from Gaza and later sold in Israel.

The Military Advocate General’s office also investigated incidents in which soldiers desecrated copies of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, in the Nabi Saleh Mosque near Ramallah, damaged medical equipment in a hospital in Gaza and looted Islamic religious items, the report said.

Haaretz, however, noted that “although some soldiers recorded themselves committing such acts, no disciplinary or criminal action was taken against them.”

A US-backed ceasefire agreement has been in place in Gaza since Oct. 10, halting Israel’s two-year war that has killed more than 72,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 others since October 2023.

Despite the ceasefire, Israeli forces have committed hundreds of violations through shelling and gunfire, killing 603 Palestinians and injuring 1,618 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.