According to a report by ABC News on Friday September 25, 2026, former CIA officer John Kiriakou has alleged that Israel’s military policy involves destroying entire residential buildings when a targeted individual is believed to be inside, even if large numbers of civilians could be killed.

Kiriakou made the remarks while discussing Israel’s military operations and its approach to targeting individuals during an interview. A transcript of the discussion records him describing the alleged practice as a policy originating from Israel’s political leadership.

“If Israel wants to kill you while you’re in a residential building, and they think they can shoot at you, they’ll blow up the entire building and kill 2,000 people with you; that’s Israeli policy,” Kiriakou said.

The former CIA officer was discussing Israeli military operations in the context of the wider conflict in the Middle East when he made the claim. The interviewer subsequently asked whether the approach represented an attitude within Israel’s military, to which Kiriakou responded that he regarded it as a policy.

In the same discussion, Kiriakou described Israeli strikes against senior figures in Iran as highly precise before contrasting those operations with what he alleged was Israel’s approach to targets located inside residential areas.

The comments have circulated widely online, with social media posts reproducing portions of the interview and attributing the remarks to Kiriakou.

Kiriakou is a former CIA officer who became publicly known after speaking about the agency’s interrogation programme and his subsequent prosecution under the Espionage Act. His comments on Israel represent his own characterization of Israeli military policy and should be understood as an allegation rather than an independently established fact.

The remarks come as international scrutiny of Israeli military operations and the impact of strikes on densely populated areas remains a major subject of debate and reporting.

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