Israel investigating 16 attacks in Gaza for possible law violations

The Israeli army is investigating its actions in 16 attacks in the Gaza Strip on suspicion of law violations.

The attacks took place between October 21 and November 2.

The Israeli army said on Friday that the review of the cases is still ongoing, and it could therefore not provide details.

According to Haaretz, the cases include airstrikes on residential buildings and former school buildings, in which, according to Palestinians, many people were killed.

In the case of an attack on a former school building at the end of October, the army said at the time that forces had targeted a command centre of the Islamist Hamas movement. Numerous measures had been taken to reduce the risk to civilians, Israel said.

Israel's bombardment and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 has killed thousands of Palestinians, many of them civilians, as the Israeli army has waged war against Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

In all 16 attacks, there is a suspicion that the attacks were disproportionate or violated international humanitarian law, Haaretz reported.

The newspaper says that the internal investigations also serve to head off calls for international probes into suspected war crimes.

The investigations in Israel are being conducted by a military committee that, according to the army, is independent.

The results will then be forwarded to the military attorney general, who will decide whether to open a criminal investigation.

According to the newspaper, however, the investigations can take years and are often dropped.

According to the army, almost 2,000 incidents have been submitted to the committee for review since the beginning of the war more than a year ago.

The military did not say whether these investigations have had any criminal consequences to date, or if so, which ones.