looting

Israeli soldiers play cards inside a building in Al-Shati refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, November 16, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Rugs, cosmetics, motorbikes: Israeli soldiers are looting Gaza homes en masse

Soldiers describe how stealing Palestinian property has become totally routine in the Gaza war, with minimal pushback from commanders.

By Oren Ziv February 20, 2024

An Israeli soldier drinks water as Palestinians look on after Israeli forces conquer Be'er Sheva during the 1948 war, October 22, 1948. (Hugo Mendelson/GPO)

Carpets, books, and jewelry: Why looting was central to the Nakba

A recent book documents the rampant looting of Palestinian belongings in 1948, but fails to recognize it as part of Israel's wider goal of dispossession.

By Avi-ram Tzoreff March 24, 2022

An Israeli soldier aims a rifle loaded with rubber-coated steel bullets during clashes in Aida Refugee Camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, November 29, 2013. This day's clashes followed several days of confrontations after the killing of three Palestinian militants by Israeli forces in Yatta. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

The army prefers to indict soldiers who loot — not those who kill

Why does the the IDF indict soldiers far more often for property-related crimes, while closing cases in which soldiers are suspected of wounding or killing Palestinians? By Yossi Gurvitz, written for Yesh Din In 2014, a total of 15 Israeli soldiers were indicted for harming Palestinians, as can be seen by our latest data sheet…

By +972 Magazine December 15, 2015

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Military plans scribbled on the wall of a Palestinian home used as a military post by Israeli soldiers during Operation Protective Edge, the Gaza Strip, August 2014. (photo: Alexandr Nabokov)

How the IDF turned a Palestinian house into a military post

Shattered televisions, clothes and food scattered everywhere, clogged toilets, walls covered in drawings, stolen jewelry. These are the scenes that awaited Palestinians in Gaza upon returning to their homes that were used as IDF military posts. By Alexandr Nabokov The devastation is total. Furniture is overturned, clothes are torn out of the closets and scattered…

By +972 Magazine August 23, 2014

A Palestinian farmer is filmed by an Israeli settler in the village of Tuqu', close to the settlement of Teqoa, West Bank, May 25, 2012. (photo: Activestills)

It’s the little things about occupation

Sometimes the daily, petty nastiness of the occupation is encapsulated in the dismal theft of a few farming tools. By Yossi Gurvitz for Yesh Din Ryad, who lives near Bethlehem area, has a small orchard with apricot, hazelnut, olive and fig trees. Near the orchard is an ancient agricultural structure, aged some 100 years, which…

By +972 Magazine May 11, 2014

IDF raids a home in Nabi Saleh on November 24, 2011 [illustrative photo] (Photo: Tamimi Press)

Looting by IDF soldiers: ‘But on the spoil, laid they not their hand’

The occupation has made us accustomed to things we never thought we’d get used to. This, basically, is the meaning of the weary expression “the occupation corrupts.” News that an IDF soldier is suspected of looting was met by the Israeli media with silence. We’re getting used to looting too, it seems. By Yesh Din,…

By +972 Magazine February 16, 2013