The IDF loosened its guidelines for combat with the outbreak of the war against the Hamas terrorist organization after Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 250 more on October 7, 2023, according to a report by the New York Times published today (Thursday). The changes were made as Hamas was seen as an existential threat in the wake of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
According to the report, these changes included allowing the IAF to target lower-ranked figures in the Hamas organization instead of being limited to targeting high-ranking officials, rocket launchers, and arms depots. In addition, the report claimed that Israeli officiers were allowed to risk killing up to 20 civilians in strikes against military targets.
These changes allegedly reduced the protections civilians were accorded by the IDF in previous conflicts such as Operation Protective Edge in 2014, which the Times attributes to causing the higher civilian death tolls reported by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
The rules of engagement were made stricter again starting in November 2023, less than two months after the start of the war, though they were not made as restrictive as before the war.
The New York Times report was ridiculed for reporting that a nation at war, which Israel formally declared in the wake of the Hamas massacre, will not have the same rules of engagement as a nation that is not at war.
Commentary Magazine Senior Editor John Podhoretz wrote on X, "So the NYT has discovered that when a country fights a war, its method of fighting is different from when it’s having skirmishes during a non-war situation. WOW STOP THE PRESSES GIVE THESE GUYS A PULITZER."
One user responded that the authors of the piece had been "born yesterday."
The report did note how extensive the IDF's efforts to prevent civilian casualties were in previous engagements, including banning strikes on low-level Hamas operatives when they were surrounded by family and the risking of the lives of five or more civilians. Despite these restrictive rules of engagement designed to protect civilians, Israel has been accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and causing disproportionate harm to civilians in every engagement with Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the last 25 years.