The Israeli army has reportedly hired foreign mercenaries, including a notorious Spanish group, to use in its brutal war on the besieged Gaza Strip.
El Mundo, a major Spanish newspaper, interviewed Pedro Diaz Flores, a notorious Spanish mercenary, who said “many” mercenary groups have joined Israel’s army that pays them “very well.”
“So I came for economy, for money. They pay very well, they offer good equipment and the work is calm. It is 3,900 euros [$4,187] per week, complementary missions aside,” he said of his motives for joining the Israeli forces.
Pedro Diaz Flores previously fought alongside neo-Nazis in Ukraine after Russia began a special military operation in the country’s Donbas region last year.
“We only provide security support to arms convoys or the troops of the Israeli armed forces that are in the Gaza Strip. We do not fight Hamas directly, nor are we involved in assault operations,” he claimed.
“We are in charge of the security of the checkpoints and access control on the borders of Gaza and Jordan. There are many PMCs (private military companies) here and they share the work. Traditionally they have guarded border terminals between Eliat and Aqaba,” he added.
That came as speculations arose last month that mercenaries stationed in Ukraine had begun to join the Israeli military, as the focus of the West has also shifted from Ukraine to Israel.
“It’s clear that the war in the Middle East is taking away the focus” from Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long crimes against Palestinians.
Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.
According to the Gaza-based health ministry, at least 10,022 Palestinians have been killed in the strikes, 70 percent of whom are women and children.