Israeli veterans' organisation, Breaking the Silence, has accused the country's military of killing Palestinians in Gaza and later seeking evidence to justify the killings.

Nadav Weiman, the group's executive director, made the allegations in an interview with France 24, where he described “retrospective incrimination” as a process in which Palestinians killed during Israeli military operations are subsequently identified as Hamas members to justify the attacks.

Asked to explain the process, Weiman said the Israeli military and its spokespersons seek to establish the identities and alleged affiliations of people killed in air strikes, including attacks that cause large numbers of civilian casualties.

“First, we shoot, we kill, and then we think, and then we try to find a reason why it happened,” Weiman said.

He cited the Israeli military's operations around Nasser Hospital, the killing of 15 paramedics in Rafah and air strikes in Gaza that he said killed large numbers of civilians.

Breaking the Silence is an Israeli nongovernmental organisation founded by former and serving Israeli military personnel.

According to Weiman, after the killings, the identities of those killed are obtained by Israeli intelligence and are then examined for possible links to Hamas or other armed groups to justify the incident.

“And then the IDF starts to look for evidence,” he said, describing possible justifications including a person being "near a building" identified as belonging to Hamas, having a family member linked to Hamas, or having previously been on a payroll.

“And then the IDF tries to build a case around certain individuals to say 'We attacked because there were Hamas members over there'," Weiman said.

He said that the soldiers carrying out attacks do not have the information that is later used to justify the killings.

“Now, I don't think that the tank that fired the tank shells at the hospital had a booklet with 25,000 Hamas members, and they looked photo after photo and said, 'Ah, there are Hamas members over there',” Weiman said.

“This is something that we do after we shoot.”

Weiman said that these "permissive rules of engagement" have enabled widespread violations of human rights during the war.