| IDF launches internal probe into possible Gaza war infractions

Israel Hayom 

The Israeli military has launched eight new criminal investigations into cases involving Palestinian civilian casualties in this summer's Gaza war.

Israel's chief military advocate general, Maj. Gen. Danny Efroni, published on Saturday evening a series of conclusions reached in investigations into possible criminal and international law violations carried out during Israel's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza this past summer. 

Israel has referred about 100 cases to legal examination and 85 of them are currently under various stages of review.

Some 50 incidents have already been reviewed and passed on to Efroni for decisions. In addition to the investigations he launched, nine other cases were closed, with Efroni deeming criminal investigations unnecessary, but recommending the army take away operational lessons from the incidents. 

The military prosecutor's office looked into more than 150 complaints filed by Israeli and international rights organizations dealing with claims of attacking and killing civilians and firing at public buildings, hospitals, Red Crescent buildings and UNESCO buildings, among others. 

Among the investigations transferred to the military investigations unit are: the four boys killed on a Gaza beach; an UNRWA school that was hit in Beit Hanoun, killing 10 civilians; the strike on the Abu Jama family home in Khan Yunis that reportedly killed 27 civilians and the death of a Palestinian woman near the Dahaniya Airport.

Among the investigations that were closed were: Claims of civilian deaths in the attack of an Islamic Jihad Battalion Commander's building -- the seven people killed were found to have been Hamas operatives, not civilians; claims of eight civilian deaths during an attack on a building belonging to the Kawara family in Khan Younis -- it was found that the Israel Defense Forces warned the family prior to the strike, using the "knock on the roof" procedure; and claims of an attack on a Red Crescent site in Jabaliya -- it was found that Palestinian terrorists had rockets aimed at Israel in special rocket launching holes only dozens of meters away from the site. 

According to the military prosecutor's office, complaints about specific incidents during the campaign are still being received. "The majority of the complaints are filed in the name of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip or nongovernmental organizations -- Israeli, Palestinian and international," the office said in a statement.

"The military prosecutor's office is actively working to identify incidents that require review or investigation. Any information about or complaints of apparent misconduct are given a preliminary review to check how reliable and concrete the claims are. If they are found to be both reliable and concrete enough, they are transferred to the military advocate general for a decision."

Source http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=21963