Israeli NGO: 27 cases of suspected war crimes in Gaza, zero indictments

27 cases of suspected war crimes committed by Israeli armed forces in the 2014 Gaza offensive have produced not a single indictment to date, according to an Israeli NGO.

In a briefing paper published two years after the ceasefire that concluded ‘Operation Protective Edge’, Haifa-based Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel noted that “Israeli authorities are still investigating or have yet to even respond to 48 percent of our complaints.”

In 2014, Adalah – along with Gaza-based organisation Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights – filed complaints to the Attorney General and Military Advocate General concerning 27 incidents of suspected international humanitarian law violations.

The NGOs demanded that Israeli authorities “open independent criminal investigations into each of the cases and to prosecute and hold to account those found to be responsible.”

According to Adalah, “the cases concerned severe events that resulted in the killing and serious injury of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, and the massive destruction of civilian objects”, attacks that could “could amount to grave breaches of international humanitarian law.”

Read: Israel clears itself of war crimes in 2014 Gaza offensive

The cases include “direct attacks” on residential buildings, children, and “five UNRWA schools that were sheltering civilians”, as well as the “bombing of mosques, hospitals and a shelter for people with severe disabilities”, and “attacks on infrastructure and the municipality workers fixing them.”

The handling of these complaints, says Adalah, “has proven what previous experience…has long made clear: Israel is unwilling to conduct genuine, independent investigations into suspected war crimes, and does not hold those responsible to account, as required by international law.”

Adalah’s conclusion, which has implications for the International Criminal Court’s preliminary investigation into alleged war crimes, is that Israel’s “flawed investigative mechanisms…appear primarily geared towards protecting its armed forces, thus allowing impunity to prevail.”