SAEDNEWS: According to frontline contractors and reservists, private operators in Gaza are raking in up to 30,000 shekels ($9,000) a month—paid by the Israeli Defence Ministry—to demolish Palestinian homes, while IDF troops open fire to “protect” their lucrative work.
According to Saed News, interviews with heavy‑equipment operators, soldiers, and open‑source military records reveal an alarming new facet of the Gaza conflict: a market in destruction. The Ministry of Defence pays 5,000 shekels ($1,500) per day to bulldozer owners, who in turn hire civilians at 1,200 shekels ($360) daily—or for flat rates of 2,500–5,000 shekels per building—to raze entire three‑ to six‑storey structures. Over several weeks, skilled drivers have been earning up to 30,000 shekels ($9,000) a month, plus rents on cars and apartments in Ashkelon.
Sources tell Saed News that this profit motive has turned demolition sites into flashpoints: private crews descend wherever they choose, and when unarmed Palestinians approach US‑funded aid stations, accompanying soldiers “declare them a threat” and open fire. “From their perspective, any moment without demolition is a loss of money,” one reservist said. “So it’s considered acceptable to kill people just looking for food.”
During a Khan Younis operation this spring, bulldozer operator and settler Avraham Azoulay was fatally shot by Hamas fighters—not captured—while clearing residential districts. Political figures in Jerusalem, including far‑right MP Tzvi Sukkot, publicly eulogised Azoulay and others as heroes of the “war on enemy homes.”
Saed News has identified two civilian consortia under MoD oversight—one led by former brigadier Golan Vach in northern Gaza, the other by security appointee Bezalel Zini in the south—staffed largely by hilltop youth from West Bank settlements. These groups deploy dozens of unarmoured excavators, guarded by private security, to meet crushing demand. Their social‑media star, Rabbi Avraham Zarbib of Beit El, boasts millions of views demolishing houses while vowing, “We will not stop until this village is wiped out.”
Human‑rights advocates warn these operations risk war‑crime liability. The Hind Rajab Foundation has already brought complaints to the ICC against Golan and his brother Yehuda Vach for establishing a so‑called “kill zone” in the Netzarim Corridor. As the bulldozers roll deeper into Gaza’s neighborhoods, Saed News asks: at what cost to humanity—and will anyone be held accountable?
