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Criminal Complaint Filed in Germany Against Munich-born IDF Sniper Over Alleged Gaza War Crimes
- Vera Weidenbach
- Sep 13
- 4 min read
A Berlin-based human rights group filed the complaint to trigger a war crimes investigation after German media published a detailed investigation that identifies two IDF soldiers - a German and an American - who allegedly killed Palestinian civilians in Gaza City in 2023
The Berlin-based human rights organization European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) filed a criminal complaint on Wednesday with the German Federal Public Prosecutor's Office against a German-born Israeli soldier suspected of killing unarmed Palestinians in Gaza, which constitutes a war crime.
The suspect is a 25-year-old dual German-Israeli citizen from Munich, identified in a detailed journalistic investigation published by several European news organizations this week. He is a member of a sniper unit in the IDF who fought in Gaza during the first months of the war.
The ECCHR's complaint, filed with the involvement of Palestinian NGOs as well, comes after a five-month collaborative investigation by journalists from the Guardian, Der Spiegel, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, Paper Trail Media and German public broadcaster ZDF was published Tuesday. The team identified six unarmed Palestinian civilians from one family shot by the snipers, most of them lone soldiers, on November 22, 2023 in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood. The Guardian gave the full names of two soldiers, while Der Spiegel did not.
The complaint, and much of the evidence, relies on an interview that the U.S.-born soldier gave last year under false pretenses, in which he mentioned the German-born soldier, his partner in the field. The American, from the Chicago suburbs, was approached by a Hebrew speaker to talk on camera about the "heroes" of the IDF. He did not know that the Israeli who interviewed him was working with Palestinian independent journalist and activist Younis Tirawi, who posted clips of the interview in October 2024 on his X account (Der Spiegel independently verified the authenticity of the video interview).
During the interview, the soldier was shown separate video footage of the killings, including thermal images, and provided comments based on the videos; the American lone soldier also spoke at times when he thought the camera was off. The videos were uploaded on YouTube in early 2024 in a montage created by another soldier in the same unit. He apparently made the seven-and-a-half-minute montage to celebrate his service in the IDF, underlaying it with dramatic music.
Both of the soldiers mentioned in the investigation can be seen in the video shooting rifles with precision optics in a Gaza City building near the location of the killings.
The team of journalists determined that the four Palestinians killed in the video were members of the Doghmosh family by interviewing survivors and witnesses in Gaza, reviewing death certificates and using geolocation data. One video shows 26-year-old Mohammed Doghmosh falling on the street after being shot; the American lone soldier explains that he took the shot with his partner because the man was walking in a "combat zone" and crossed an invisible line defined by the Israeli forces without notifying the Palestinian population in the area. "It's a question of distance. There is a line that we define. They don't know where this line is, but we do," he says in the video.
The new investigation confirms an earlier Haaretz investigation, which exposed the IDF's "killing zones" practice.
Mohammed's younger brother, 19-year-old Salem Doghmosh, tried to save his brother. The soldier who was interviewed says Salem became his team's "second elimination" and credits the German-born sniper with taking the shot. After that, their 51-year-old father, Montasser, and a cousin tried to retrieve the bodies of Salem and Mohammed. Montasser was then shot and later died. The cousin was injured and survived; the brothers' bodies were left in the street until a cease-fire went into effect on November 24, 2024.
Both lone soldiers served in Gaza as members of the Ninth Platoon of the IDF's 202nd Paratroopers Battalion, according to the criminal complaint. In the interview, the U.S.-Israeli one claims his "team" killed between 100 and 120 people, which he calls an "extremely impressive" number, according to Der Spiegel.
If a German national took part in war crimes, even in a foreign army, German federal prosecutors have jurisdiction to independently investigate and prosecute the case. The ECCHR states that legal action has already been taken against members of the same IDF unit in France, Italy, South Africa and Belgium. The first criminal complaint against the German-Israeli soldier was filed in January by Munich prosecutors. That time, the Federal Prosecutor closed it quickly due to lack of evidence, and the man was not interrogated by German authorities.
The individual soldiers and the IDF did not respond to Der Spiegel's requests for comment. An IDF spokesperson quoted in the report said its forces operated "in strict accordance with its rules of engagement and international law, taking feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm." Reporters tried to approach the family of the soldier, in Munich, but according to Der Spiegel, the family's lawyer blocked further contact with the media.
(c) 2025 Haaretz
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