Israeli civilians operating heavy machinery in Gaza can earn as much as $9,000 per month, TheMarker reported on Thursday.
Since the start of the war on Gaza, the Israeli military has been systematically demolishing homes and civilian infrastructure across the Palestinian enclave.
Heavy machinery has played a central role in this destruction, operated both by soldiers and civilians.
According to TheMarker, a trained heavy equipment operator can earn approximately 1,200 shekels ($360) per day, drawn from the 5,000 shekels ($1,500) the Israeli Ministry of Defence pays daily to the equipment’s owner.
Private contractors can also choose to work at different rates.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on
Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
For demolishing a three-storey building, contractors receive 2,500 shekels ($750); for taller buildings, the rate rises to 5,000 shekels ($1,500).
‘For a contractor to earn another 5,000 shekels by bringing down a house, it’s considered acceptable to kill people who are just looking for food’
– Israeli soldier
“At first I did it for the money. Then for revenge. The work there is very hard and unpleasant. The army doesn’t operate smartly, it just wants to destroy as much as possible and doesn’t care about anything,” one heavy equipment operator told TheMarker.
“I used to take home a salary of 30,000 shekels ($9,000) a month. I got a car, and they rented me a flat in Ashkelon,” he added.
The military encourages rapid demolition in the enclave, according to TheMarker.
“The faster the buildings in Gaza are levelled, the higher the income for equipment owners,” the report said.
There has also been a noticeable increase in online job advertisements for operators in recent months.
The army’s official website states: “Today, every commander wants a skilled heavy equipment operator and a powerful bulldozer by his side on the battlefield.”
While the Israeli military primarily uses the armoured D9 bulldozer, it has also deployed civilian machinery in Gaza to meet demand.
“These vehicles aren’t armoured, and a private company is hired to protect them from missiles and snipers. But there’s no real military purpose to their activity,” a reservist told TheMarker.
Killing aid seekers for profit
Contractors’ eagerness for more demolition work in Gaza is also contributing to the mass killing of Palestinian aid seekers near US aid distribution points.
According to soldiers who spoke to Haaretz last month, private contractors “act like a kind of sheriff”, demolishing wherever they choose along the Gaza Strip and requiring Israeli soldiers to stay with them for protection.
When contractors get too close to unarmed Palestinians, soldiers open fire, claiming the civilians’ proximity poses a danger.
Gaza: Israeli soldiers admit to deliberately killing unarmed aid seekers
Read More »
“They’re making a fortune,” one soldier said.
“From their perspective, any moment where they don’t demolish houses is a loss of money, and the forces have to secure their work.”
He added that it is often the soldiers who move closer to Palestinian aid seekers, only to then declare them a threat.
“So, for a contractor to earn another 5,000 shekels by bringing down a house, it’s considered acceptable to kill people who are just looking for food.”
This week, during a demolition operation in Khan Younis, an Israeli soldier was killed by Hamas fighters after they decided against capturing him.
The soldier, Avraham Azoulay, a settler from Yitzhar, was a heavy equipment operator.
A chat group of hilltop youth, the armed militias of settlers in the occupied West Bank, said that Azoulay fell in battle “while destroying and demolishing the enemy’s houses”.
Far-right MP Tzvi Sukkot of the Religious Zionist Party also eulogised Azoulay during a parliament debate.
Azoulay “came to Rafah and destroyed many buildings in the name of the State of Israel, knowing that he might not return home, as really happened,” Sukkot said.
Hilltop youth recruitment
In May, Sukkot eulogised David Libi, another settler who was killed in the Gaza Strip while working as a heavy equipment operator.
Libi was “directly responsible for the greatest achievement of the war in wiping out tens of thousands of homes,” Sukkot said.
Shortly after Libi’s death Sukkot highlighted that many of the operators come from settler communities.
Rabbi Avraham Zarbib is the most famous operator. Zarbib, a settler from Beit El, has become a social media phenomenon due to videos he uploads, in which he is seen demolishing houses in Gaza.
“We will defeat this damn village until the end, until the victory, until the settlement,” Zarbib said in one of his latest videos taken in Khan Younis.
‘We will not give up until this village is wiped out’
– Israeli soldier and bulldozer operator
“We will not give up until this village is wiped out.”
Last week, Israeli journalist Uri Misgav reported that two civilian setups operating under the umbrella of the Ministry of Defence are responsible for the heavy equipment operation in Gaza.
Each setup includes dozens of heavy equipment, and their operators are recruited from among the hilltop youth.
According to Misgav, the setups are divided between north and south.
Golan Vach, a former senior army officer, oversees northern Gaza.
Vach is the brother of Yehuda Vach, a division commander, who was labelled by the Hind Rajab Foundation as “The Executioner of Gaza” for his alleged role in the “establishment and enforcement of an unlawful ‘kill zone’ in the Netzarim Corridor”.
Last month, the foundation filed a complaint against the two brothers to the ICC for crimes committed in Gaza.
The southern Gaza Strip is overseen by Bezalel Zini, the brother of David Zini, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial candidate for head of the Shin Bet.
