Looting has accompanied wars and violent conflicts throughout human history and was therefore explicitly prohibited under Articles 28 and 47 of the 1907 Hague Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land, and under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1949).While looting shares common characteristics across conflicts, every place in which it occurs has its own particular circumstances. Understanding those circumstances is essential if the phenomenon is to be reduced, even if it can never be entirely eradicated.In the Israeli context, one could argue that looting is rooted in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948, the apartheid regime and the settlement project established in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. Yet while the phenomenon has always existed within the Israeli military, its scale has fluctuated over the years.In The Lions’ Gate, former Israeli Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur’s account of the 1967 battle for Jerusalem through the experiences of paratroopers, looting by both soldiers and Israeli civilians is discussed openly. The book describes how Israeli civilians followed behind the advancing paratroopers, looting whatever they could carry from the Palestinian neighbourhoods that had been captured. The looters reportedly risked their lives, transporting stolen property through minefields separating East and West Jerusalem. One conclusion raised in the book is that the looting of 1967 was a direct consequence of the failure to address similar acts in 1948.Many Palestinian families in the West Bank live in a cash-based economy. It is not uncommon for soldiers conducting searches of Palestinian homes or vehicles at checkpoints to steal cash. If a Palestinian chooses to file a complaint with the Israeli authorities, it is exceedingly difficult to prove the theft unless a soldier confesses.In one such case, a civil lawsuit I filed on behalf of a Palestinian driver was dismissed. The driver alleged that he saw a commanding officer in an Israeli military unit steal 10,000 shekels from the glove compartment of his car during a search. During questioning, the officer acknowledged that the driver had immediately accused him of theft upon returning to the vehicle, but insisted the accusation was false.Although comprehensive studies have yet to be published – and it will likely be impossible to determine the full extent of looting carried out by Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank since the outbreak of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, particularly because many homes have been completely destroyed and many of their owners killed – the images soldiers themselves have circulated on social media, together with the steady stream of testimonies reaching journalists, organisations and human rights lawyers, suggest a massive wave of looting unprecedented in recent decades.Why did this happen? Two central explanations stand out.The Israeli military has no official order authorising looting, but senior commanders have long been aware of the phenomenon. As early as December 2023, then-chief of staff Herzi Halevi circulated a letter to soldiers following the spread of social media footage documenting looting. “We must preserve our humanity,” he wrote. “We will not engage in looting and thereby desecrate this war.”At a conference for senior military officers on April 27, 2026, his successor, chief of staff Eyal Zamir, stated that “the phenomenon of looting, if it exists, is disgraceful and could stain the entire Israeli military. If such incidents occurred, we will investigate them. We will not ignore them.”Yet, despite the absence of any official order endorsing looting, the message indirectly conveyed to soldiers was that it was legitimate. The Israeli military carried out campaigns of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, systematically forcing millions of civilians from their homes and deliberately destroying many of those homes to prevent their return.Looting serves not only as a means of personal enrichment for the soldiers involved; it is also inseparable from ethnic cleansing itself. It deprives people of the fruits of their labor and means of survival, while confiscating objects of historical and emotional significance to individuals, families and communities.Alongside this message, the military also conveyed a clear sense of impunity. While the Israeli military has historically been reluctant to enforce the law against its soldiers, it is difficult to recall another period in recent decades in which military discipline and law enforcement deteriorated to the extent they have during the current war.Under Section 74 of Israel’s Military Justice Law of 1955, soldiers may be prosecuted for looting. In response to a freedom of information request I received on May 26, 2026, the Israeli military stated that between Oct. 7, 2023, and Nov. 17, 2025, only two soldiers had been criminally prosecuted for looting: one in connection with looting in the West Bank, and another for stealing 6,000 shekels in Gaza – a case uncovered only because the soldier attempted to deposit the money in a bank in Israel and part of it was found to be counterfeit.Not a single disciplinary proceeding initiated over lootingAlthough the military has historically avoided criminal proceedings against soldiers accused of violating international law, internal disciplinary proceedings were at least sometimes conducted in the past, if only to prevent organisational breakdown. Yet in response to the same freedom of information request, the military stated that not a single disciplinary proceeding had been initiated over looting.In that same request, I also asked for details regarding property looted by soldiers and later confiscated by the military authorities, including whether it had been returned to its owners.As far as is known, soldiers are not searched for looted property when returning to Israeli territory. In an investigation by the newspaper Haaretz into looting in Lebanon, soldiers were reportedly seen openly loading stolen property onto their vehicles as they exited the country, without attempting to conceal it. One soldier said: “The scale is insane … none of this is hidden. Everyone sees it and understands.”The military responded that it possessed no data regarding the amount of property looted, nor whether property confiscated from soldiers had ever been returned to its owners. In a particularly striking admission, the military acknowledged that cash had been looted in the West Bank but claimed the amount was unknown.The result is that the Israeli military’s leadership has known about widespread looting and, instead of confronting it, has chosen to tolerate it, grant it impunity and effectively encourage it within the broader campaign of ethnic cleansing. Under such circumstances, it is hardly surprising that looting has become an integral part of the military’s routine operations – and that its scale continues to reach new extremes.Eitay Mack is an Israeli lawyer and human rights activist.