NEW YORK, Mar 02 : Israel\u2019s military forces carried out systematic looting in Gaza, southern Lebanon, and even parts of Syria amid ongoing accusations of war crimes, according to media reports quoting Ynet, an Israeli outlet.<\/p>\n
The stolen items included boxes of cash valued at nearly $28 million, gold bars, and countless family heirlooms stripped from homes in Gaza, the leaked Israeli report said.
\nIsraeli soldiers from the \u2018Loot Unit\u2019, consisting of over 500 people, seized \u201cmountains of cash\u201d in enemy territory, it said. In one case, the unit seized around $1 million from the private home of a Hamas brigade commander.
\nAlso, \u201cindependent\u201d looting by soldiers has also been rampant.<\/p>\n
In addition to valuables, soldiers took 183,000 pieces of weaponry- enough to arm a small army \u2013 including Soviet-era tanks, French and German rifles, sniper weapons, anti-aircraft missiles, drones, and advanced anti-tank weaponry.<\/p>\n
Collectors\u2019 items, such as rare pistols used by senior Hezbollah members, were also taken.<\/p>\n
The reports were confirmed after Palestinians returned to what remains of their homes in Khan Younis and Gaza City amid a fragile ceasefire, with many describing rooms ransacked, safes emptied, and personal belongings stolen.<\/p>\n
Graffiti left behind by Israeli soldiers mocked displaced families, while reports from Rafah reveal similar tales of theft during military operations.<\/p>\n
While much of the looting has been carried out by specialized Israeli army units tasked with \u201cseizing\u201d assets from what they deem \u201cenemy\u201d territory, rampant individual theft by soldiers has also been reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t like to just take in loot, keep it, and maintain it without making a profit from it,\u201d Lt. Col. Sharon Kotler told Israeli newspaper Ynet. \u201cI always ask what the value of this loot is.\u201d<\/p>\n
In southern Lebanon, Israeli commandos conducted covert missions through remote villages, physically hauling stolen weapons and valuables across the border under the cover of the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, we carried missiles, weapons, and crates of ammunition back to Israel on our backs,\u201d one officer referred to only as \u2018A\u2019 was quoted as saying. \u201cBut it quickly became too much. It really broke our backs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spoils are now stashed in secretive warehouses and reinforced bunkers scattered across Israel.<\/p>\n
Military sources quoted by Ynet, suggested that Israeli engineering units may repurpose some of the seized explosives to meet soaring demand, while others have considered transferring parts of the arsenal to Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK, Mar 02 : Israel\u2019s military forces carried out systematic looting in Gaza, southern Lebanon, and even parts of Syria amid ongoing accusations of war crimes, according to media reports quoting Ynet, an Israeli outlet. The stolen items included boxes of cash valued at […]<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":119860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n