BICOM

The IDF announced on Saturday night that the Chief Military Prosecutor had ordered new criminal investigations into eight incidents which took place during Operation Protective Edge. In total, the IDF is currently investigating 13 criminal probes regarding the summer conflict.

The 50-day conflict came to an end in August. In September, Chief Military Prosecutor Maj. Gen. Dani Efroni announced criminal investigations into five incidents, acting swiftly to investigate incidents in which Gazan civilians were killed. They included the Israel Air Force strike on a Gaza beach on 18 July, which killed four children and the shelling of a United Nations-run school in Beit Hanoun six days later.

This weekend, Efroni ordered an additional eight criminal probes to be added to the list, covering the deaths of 30 Palestinians. The new incidents under investigation include an IDF strike on the home of the Abu-Jama family in Khan Yunis which killed 27 people and a separate incident in which an ambulance driver was shot and killed also in Khan Yunis.

Efroni also said that he had closed seven investigations as they did not “substantiate reasonable grounds for suspicion of criminal behaviour, and therefore there is no basis for an investigation.” In total, around 100 investigations have been launched with General Staff member Maj. Gen. Noam Tibon overseeing six investigative panels. The IDF said that 85 incidents are “under various stages of review.”

In addition to the ongoing IDF investigations, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee is examining the defence establishment’s conduct during the Gaza conflict. Senior Israeli leaders have already given evidence.

Meanwhile, last Wednesday, Israeli officials permitted the entry into Gaza of a panel despatched by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to probe Operation Protective Edge. The enquiry is headed by Canadian international law expert and forthright critic of Israel, William Schabas. Although Israeli officials believe that the enquiry is inherently skewed, panel members entered Gaza last week via the Erez Crossing.