Elyahu Mali Said Not to Spare Any Soul in Gaza Including Infants

1Elyahu Mali said not to spare any soul in Gaza, including infants

Verdict: True.

• The lecture: Mali, head of the Shirat Moshe hesder yeshiva in Jaffa, spoke at a hesder yeshiva conference on March 7, 2024, on "the treatment of the civilian population during war." Ynet reported the remarks the next day. Video of the talk circulated the same week. Middle East Eye posted a clip on March 8, 2024.

• What he said: Ynet printed his opening hedge, then the ruling he applied to Gaza. He said because the subject was sensitive and he had been told it would go on the internet, "the bottom line is that you have to do exactly what is said in IDF orders." He then described a mitzvah war:

“הדין הבסיסי במלחמת מצווה, במקרה הזה בעזה, הוא - ‘לא תחיה כל נשמה’. לא תהרוג אותם? הם יהרגו אותך. המחבלים של היום הם הילדים של המבצע הקודם שהשארת אותם בחיים. הנשים הן בעצם אלה שיוצרות את המחבלים.”

• Infants: Asked specifically about babies, he did not walk it back. Ynet:

“אותו דבר. אתה לא יכול להתחכם עם התורה. היום הוא תינוק, מחר הוא לוחם. אין כאן שאלות. המחבלים של היום היו ילדים בני 8 במבצע הקודם. אז אתה לא יכול להסתפק כאן. לכן דין עזה שונה כאן.”

• The verse: "לא תחיה כל נשמה" is Deuteronomy 20:16. In the 1917 Jewish Publication Society text on Mechon Mamre: "thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth." In the chapter, that rule is for the seven Canaanite nations in the land, not for "cities which are very far off." Mali applied that line to Gaza as a mitzvah war.

• What the yeshiva said: Shirat Moshe told Ynet the remarks were cut out of context, that Mali stressed a halakhic duty to follow IDF orders, and that a soldier who harms civilians against orders is a "rodef." Tag Meir still asked for a criminal investigation. State Attorney Amit Aisman rejected that appeal on June 30, 2026, writing that Mali's repeated instructions to obey Israeli law, IDF orders, and international law removed a criminal suspicion.