The testimony collection that follows includes testimonies by soldiers and officers who took part in creating the perimeter and turning it into a zone of total destruction. (…)

The testimonies demonstrate that soldiers were given orders to deliberately, methodically, and systematically annihilate whatever was within the designated perimeter, including entire residential neighborhoods, public buildings, educational institutions, mosques, and cemeteries, with very few exceptions. Industrial zones and agricultural areas which served the entire population of Gaza were laid to waste, regardless of whether those areas had any connection whatsoever to the fighting. In their testimonies, soldiers
describe the systematic way in which the creation of the new buffer zone was planned and executed. One example of this was the way designated areas were divided into defined sections — „polygons“ — within which soldiers were ordered to destroy structures. The military dedicated enormous resources to this endeavor, including the extensive use of bulldozers (excavators, D9 bulldozers, and other heavy equipment), along with thousands of mines and explosives.