Three Israeli army reservists have described the reasons they will refuse to return to fight in Gaza if called up again, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The three soldiers and 39 others signed a protest letter late last month, saying they would not obey a government-issued call to return to the army.

Yuval Green, a 26-year-old student and paratrooper medic in the reserves, said that a red line for him was crossed when his commander ordered his unit to burn down a Palestinian house for no reason, The Cradle online news magazine reported.

Michael Ofer Ziv, a 29-year-old operations officer cited the army's killing of civilians for no reason, added the source.

"From a distance, it is easy to say, 'This is how it is in war, people are killed,' but in war, 30,000 people are not killed, most of whom are buried under the rubble when they are bombed from the air. The feeling is of indiscriminate shooting."