The IDF urged us not to publish this story, but we’re doing so regardless, and want to explain why. “Although the outlet was made aware that publishing the names of soldiers who interviewed anonymously endangers their personal safety and violates journalistic ethics, it nevertheless chose to publish their names,” a statement from the Israeli military reads.
Two senior Israeli commanders, Ariel Ben Shachar and Erez Yerushalmi, gave independent interviews in Israeli media, in which they each spoke openly about the systematic destruction of Beit Hanoun they helped oversee. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity, but Drop Site correspondent Younis Tirawi subsequently discovered the identities of both through his reporting. The IDF argued that because the commanders spoke anonymously, “journalistic ethics” bound Drop Site not to name them. However, Drop Site never entered into any confidentiality agreement with either commander, and such agreements only bind news outlets that are party to them. The military spokesperson further argued that naming the commanders would put them at risk. But it is already known that they serve in the military, and if, as the military claims, their actions do not constitute war crimes, they are at no additional personal risk. If their actions do constitute war crimes, responsibility lies with the perpetrators, not the outlet reporting on the crimes.
The confessions of the pair of lieutenant colonels are particularly timely and newsworthy given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim, made this Thursday on Fox News, that the shocking aerial images of Gaza’s completely flattened landscape aren’t the result of months of Israeli airstrikes, artillery, and systematic bulldozer and demolition operations. Instead, he said, “Hamas booby traps every single building.”
“The reason you see the flattened buildings is because Hamas booby traps every single building,” Netanyahu said. “After we move in…we put in an APC with a lot of explosives. Detonate it. It sets off all the booby traps and the buildings begin to collapse.”
The claim—which comes as the Israeli Security Cabinet approved a complete takeover of Gaza City—is directly contradicted by commanders in charge of razing Gaza, who we report below have spoken openly about their destruction and the genocidal intent behind it.
—Ryan Grim
It was not a leak. It was not a whistleblower. It was a live, public radio interview broadcast in Israel.
The Israeli officer spoke clearly. He was not in the heat of combat. He explained in calm, calculated detail what had been done to the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun, once home to 65,000 people—and what would continue to be done.
“Beit Hanoun is completely destroyed,” he said. “There’s still a lot of work to do, but the destruction is total. And we will continue working there until it is completely destroyed.”
On July 14, 2025, Israel’s public broadcasting channel, Kan Reshet Bet, aired a Hebrew-language radio interview with an “anonymous” Israeli lieutenant colonel identified only by his first initial—“A.”—and by his unit, the 646th Brigade, which is currently operating in northern Gaza.
The destruction of Beit Hanoun—located on the northeastern edge of Gaza, close to the Erez crossing—is publicly and proudly touted by Israeli military authorities. Last month, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz shared an aerial photo showing the crushed ruins of Beit Hanoun, and declared that its fate will be the same as that of Rafah, the southern city the IDF is in the process of grinding into fine dust.
Last week, Col. Netanel Shamaka, the commander of the Givati Infantry Brigade, took reporters to visit Beit Hanoun to show the military's work there. “I believe that within a week we can finish, and what I mean by finish is that there are no more tunnels,” said Col. Netanel Shamaka said. “The mission isn’t to destroy buildings for the sake of it; the mission is to destroy Hamas infrastructure… Maybe 10 buildings will remain standing, which belong to civilians and there are no tunnel entrances in their homes.”
Haaretz military correspondent Yaniv Kubovich, who joined the tour, reported that as Shamaka spoke, “two officers standing nearby used their radios. Trying not to draw the journalists’ attention, instructed field units to fire so there would be ‘some gunfire in the background for the video footage.’”
But below the rank of colonel, the individuals carrying out the destruction—and bragging about it on local radio—are rarely named. In January of this year, the Israeli military implemented a new rule requiring soldiers below colonel to hide their faces and names when speaking to the press. The purpose is to shield the identities of individual soldiers carrying out the genocide from public scrutiny and international law—and, in the case of the Kan Reshet Bet interview, of the commander describing, in real time, the methodical destruction of a Palestinian town. The interview was a confession of intent, delivered calmly and confidently.
The “anonymous” commander, however, let slip a mosaic of hints about his identity. He was a resident of northern Israel. He had four children. His wife’s name is referenced in passing.
And, as it turns out, the 646th Brigade has no combat engineering battalion, which are units responsible for controlled demolitions and bulldozing of buildings. Since 2021, however, the Israeli military has relied on what it calls “combat teams,” allowing the previously mostly fixed brigades to trade and borrow units like interchangeable parts—a tank battalion here, an infantry company there.
The military doesn’t typically announce these temporary restructures. But, back in May, Israeli media reported on an officer in the 924th Combat Engineering Battalion being injured in northern Gaza—and mentioned the battalion was operating under the 646th Brigade’s command.
The voice, the operational details, the battalion, and the family background all point to one man: Ariel Ben Shachar, the commander of the 924th Reserve Battalion. Ben Shachar had spoken to the press a number of times under his own name before the new guidelines forbidding the disclosure of field commanders’ names were issued.
The Israeli military confirmed Ben Shachar’s identity to Drop Site News but requested that his name not be used because he originally gave the interview anonymously. When Drop Site indicated that we are not bound by the solider’s anonymity agreement with another outlet, the military gave the following statement: “Although the outlet was made aware that publishing the names of soldiers who interviewed anonymously endangers their personal safety and violates journalistic ethics, it nevertheless chose to publish their names.”
Ben Shachar maintains an active presence on Facebook and Instagram, where he made several posts broadcasting his first demolition spree in Beit Hanoun, in November 2023. One video, uploaded to Ben Shachar’s personal YouTube channel under the title “The Annihilation of Beit Hanoun,” showed a compilation of houses being blown up, meticulously synchronised to music. Another, uploaded to his Instagram account, showed the demolition of buildings by bulldozers and controlled demolitions; it opens with an animated title screen reading “This is how we annihilated Beit Hanoun.” After Drop Site reached out to Ben Shachar and the Israeli military, some of his posts were removed.
In July 2025, the 924th Battalion returned to what remained of the town. In the interview with Kan Reshet Bet’s Kalman Liebskind and Moav Vardi, Ben Shachar makes crystal clear he is speaking from Beit Hanoun:
Liebskind: What area are you in?
Ben Shachar: Beit Hanoun
Liebskind: Beit Hanoun. For the benefit of the listeners, take a quick look around you—what do you see?
Ben Shachar: Beit Hanoun is completely destroyed. There’s still a lot of work to do, but the destruction is total. And we will continue working there until it is completely destroyed.
Almost without prompt, and with no apparent strategic rationale, he rushes to clarify not as a military jargon but as a declaration: “Beit Hanoun will be demolished and annihilated down to the foundations.”
Liebskind: When you say “continue working”—describe that work. In this particular operation, how long have you already been inside Beit Hanoun?
Ben Shachar: We’ve been here for 11 days since the operation began.
Liebskind: And what have you been doing over these 11 days?
Ben Shachar: We are destroying Beit Hanoun above ground. House by house, of what remains from previous rounds in this place, until the complete destruction of Beit Hanoun. And of course, the main focus of my role is underground — to deal with the subterranean area so that the enemy still hiding down there is defeated and destroyed. If they come above ground, they’ll be attacked. If they stay below, it will be their death trap.
Vardi: Wait, you’re saying you’re going house to house and destroying the houses? That means you’re demolishing each house, checking if there’s a tunnel shaft, and destroying the shaft—just destroying the buildings one by one?
Ben Shachar: Beit Hanoun is a zone that threatens Sderot, Erez, Nir Am, and Netiv HaAsara.
Vardi: Absolutely.
Ben Shachar: This place generates terror and harmed our communities. It’s right up against the fence. It’s a place that requires significant treatment, and it is receiving the treatment it deserves.
Moav: No, just trying to understand—what exactly are you doing?
Ben Shachar: We are carrying out a very tight, decisive offensive operation, which ultimately means that Beit Hanoun will look like Rafah. It will be destroyed completely.
His comments echoed those of Defense Minister Israel Katz just three days earlier, who had declared in a social media post: “After Rafah, Beit Hanoun—no shelter for terror.”
Other commanders have boasted about the destruction of Beit Hanoun over the past month. The commander of the 8105th Infantry Battalion under Israel’s 646th Brigade, in a mid-July interview with Israeli Channel 13, bragged about the "systematic, methodical annihilation of every neighborhood" and the near-total destruction of the town’s urban landscape. This was not a one-off comment; the same lieutenant colonel, who is named elsewhere as Erez Yerushalmi, repeated similar remarks three separate times last month, openly describing how he led his battalion’s operations on Beit Hanoun:
[It’s] totally wiped out. And do you see that elevated neighborhood in Beit Hanoun? That's the path to Beit Lahia, so we haven't gotten around to it yet, but when we do, it will be the same…Systematic, military, methodical annihilation of every neighborhood and every urban area in Beit Hanoun. It’s very thorough—not sporadic. We go in with planned attacks and raids, and in the end, when you add one night, and another night, and another night... [you end up with] entire neighborhoods and cities [destroyed].
Erez Yerushalmi did not respond to a request from Drop Site for comment. The IDF, in its statement, did not specifically address the comments made by its commanders, but rather insisted that it operates according to the laws of war.
The IDF operates in the Gaza Strip in accordance with international and Israeli law. Operational activities are directed solely against terrorist organizations and not against civilians, and are carried out when there is a military necessity. The IDF has no doctrine aimed at causing widespread civilian destruction, and such statements do not reflect policy on the ground.
IDF forces are operating in Beit Hanoun to destroy terrorist infrastructure and eliminate terrorists. The Hamas terrorist organization operates from the Beit Hanoun area, carrying out terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF forces, and operates from within and near civilian infrastructure while rigging buildings and routes with explosives, causing extensive destruction.
In stark contrast to Hamas’s deliberate attacks on Israeli men, women, and children, the IDF operates in accordance with international law and takes all possible precautions to minimize harm to civilians.
On January 12, 2025, a week before a temporary ceasefire went into effect in Gaza, the Israeli military radio “Galatz” described how senior Israeli military officials were recommending that they “widen the perimeter established in Beit Hanoun—meaning not allowing the return of the Palestinian population at all, until further notice. And make the entire ridge that oversees the Israeli settlements, which is about half of Beit Hanoun because the ridge is just in the middle...into an extermination zone. A zone into which no return will be allowed at all."
Military security correspondent Doron Kadosh explained earlier in the report that the operation in Beit Hanoun means: “This is literally house-to-house work. Unlike other times, here ‘house-to-house’ means physically going in—blowing up or demolishing these houses. This requires engineering troops to physically enter these sites.”
According to UNOSAT—the United Nations Satellite Center—as of July 8, 4,170 buildings in Beit Hanoun had been completely destroyed, 712 severely damaged, and 855 moderately damaged. On the UNOSAT data map, Beit Hanoun is completely covered in red, orange and yellow dots, each representing a destroyed or damaged building. The systematic destruction of Beit Hanoun has only continued over the past month.
In a video interview on Israeli channel i24, Yerushalmi—again identified only as the infantry commander in the 646th Battalion—openly admitted that his battalion was carrying out a campaign of indiscriminate urban destruction: “We are now dismantling the opponent’s system—essentially eliminating his terrorists, seizing all his tunnels, and annihilating the entire neighborhood down to its last building. The opponent no longer functions as an organized system; they have shifted to guerrilla warfare. Their battalion has been dismantled, and we are adapting our combat techniques accordingly to fight these guerrilla tactics.”
In interviews with Israeli journalist Avi Ashkenazi published on July 11, several unnamed soldiers described the “systematic erasure” of Beit Hanoun’s neighborhoods through the use of engineering equipment and explosives, stating that they intend to “destroy the area until nothing remains.”
Whenever the war ends, the people of Beit Hanoun will have nothing to come back to, Ben Shachar emphasizes:
Liebskind: Will Sderot be a safer city to live in after this round in Beit Hanoun?
Ben Shachar: Absolutely. What we had here—residents approaching right up to the fence and being seen—today Beit Hanoun is a ghost town. Again, I’m not in the political echelon that will decide whether the enemy will return. But there’s nowhere for them to return to in Beit Hanoun. There are no standing houses to return to and live a normal life.
Unlike the residents of Gaza, however, Ben Shachar will have a home and a job to return to.
Vardi: And tell us—what do you do… What was your job before all this?
Ben Shachar: I’m still working—I work in the defense industry, at one of the companies. They’re waiting for me to return.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he is working at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel's state-owned weapon manufacturer, as an operations manager.
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I love Drop Site. The more I read, the more my heart broke. The reporting is necessary, and we thank and support you.
One day they all will end up in front of ICC.