Israel Finds No War Crimes in Gaza Attacks

An Israel Defense Forces probe has found that no Gaza civilians were intentionally harmed in Israel’s recent incursion into the region, Haaretz reports. IDF colonels who weren’t involved in the fighting found that the IDF “adhered to international law and maintained a high level of professionalism and morality.” Civilian deaths, they determined, were isolated and unintentional.

The colonels reviewed reports of attacks on civilians and medical and UN facilities, as well as reports on the use of white phosphorous. The “most glaring” accident, Haaretz says, was a strike that missed its target by dozens of yards and killed 21 family members. In another case, Israel’s air force hit a truck thought to be carrying rockets, killing eight, including four Hamas gunmen; it was later found that the truck was carrying gas canisters.