The Belgian pro-Palestinian Hind Rajab Foundation, or HRF, said Wednesday that it filed new investigative materials with Belgian authorities against an Israeli-Belgian citizen identified as A.B.S. The group alleges he served as a sniper in “Ghost Unit,” apparently a platoon in the Paratroopers’ 202nd Battalion that worked alongside Israeli engineering forces in Gaza.
HRF says it has evidence, including testimony from a former unit member, video analysis, satellite imagery, drone footage and eyewitness accounts, that the unit was involved in shooting at civilians and demolishing civilian buildings in several neighborhoods in Gaza City and in the Khan Younis area. It said European media outlets, including Der Spiegel, The Guardian and Germany’s ZDF, reviewed the material and confirmed major parts of the allegations. According to HRF, the unit operated with the IDF combat engineering battalion 8219 in Gaza City, where snipers allegedly secured explosives and demolition operations. The group claims the unit marked an internal boundary called “the line,” and anyone crossing it was shot, regardless of whether they were civilians or legitimate military targets. HRF says more than 105 people were killed this way during the period it describes.
A separate part of the complaint focuses on the Israeli operation in Khan Younis and the siege of Nasser Hospital between December 2023 and February 2024. HRF says it collected testimony about a series of alleged shootings at civilians, medical staff and journalists inside and around the hospital compound.
HRF chief executive Diab Abu Jahjah urged Belgian authorities to act, saying, “The evidence regarding his alleged involvement in war crimes is significant, concrete and reviewable. If it is found that a Belgian citizen was involved in crimes against civilians in the Gaza Strip, Belgium must investigate and prosecute him.” Belgian media reported in October 2024 that the federal prosecutor had already opened a file to examine suspected war crimes by a Belgian citizen who served in the sniper unit. The then justice minister said the goal was to verify the information published in the press. Belgian authorities have not yet responded to the new complaint. HRF says it has filed about 100 similar complaints in dozens of countries, with official responses in only a few cases, and has also sent the names of about 1,000 soldiers to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. It has lodged further complaints against senior IDF and political figures, including former chief of staff Herzi Halevi, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, former defense minister Yoav Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
