Israeli soldiers have looted 'millions' in money and gold from Gaza since war started

Israeli soldiers have allegedly looted millions in money and other items from the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on the devastated Palestinian territory.

Gaza's government media office said it had received "dozens of reports from residents of the Gaza Strip on the issue of stolen money, gold, and artefacts" over a period of 92 days, which ran from 7 October to Saturday.

The office said the items were valued at 90 million shekels ($24 million) and were "seized by the Israeli occupation army", The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site al-Araby al-Jadeed reported.

Israeli soldiers have boasted of the items they have looted in videos posted to social media.

The media office said the thefts occurred in various ways, with thefts at checkpoints of bags containing valuable belongings, and raids on the homes of people who were asked to evacuate.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said on 29 December that footage on social media showed three Israeli soldiers selling gold jewellery they had stolen from Gaza in the occupied West Bank.

"Israel's soldiers themselves have published videos on social media platforms documenting their deliberate sabotage of civilian homes in the Gaza Strip… or their spraying of racist Zionist slogans on walls, in addition to bragging about seizing Palestinians' money and valuable possessions," the rights group said.

Euro-Med Monitor said testimonies it had gathered show that the Israeli army had engaged in the intentional destruction of property, the stealing of personal belongings, and the looting and burning of homes.

It said that based on the testimonies it has been documenting, preliminary estimates indicate the Israeli military may have "looted valuable possessions worth tens of millions of dollars, in addition to stealing personal belongings from Palestinian civilians".

Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza has devastated the territory, killing more than 23,200 people so far, mostly women and children.

Hospitals, ambulances, residential buildings, and places of worship have been attacked.

South Africa has filed a suit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of committing genocidal acts in Gaza.

The first hearings in the case will take place on Thursday and Friday.