Gaza War Investigation: Israel Army Closes Probe Into Deaths Of 21 Palestinians

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military said Wednesday it has closed its investigation into the shelling deaths of 21 members of a single Palestinian family and would not file any charges in what was one of the gravest incidents in the 2009 war in the Gaza Strip.

The military's move, which exonerates Israeli soldiers from any responsibility in the killings, outraged relatives of the killed Palestinians and the Israeli human rights group that had pressed for the investigation. They said the findings proved the army is not capable of investigating the conduct of its soldiers.

"We are talking about a crime against civilians," said Salah Samouni, 34, whose 2-year-old daughter was killed when Israeli shells slammed into the Gaza City house where the family had gathered.

"We know that God above will punish the killers. If they escaped trial, they can't escape God's punishment," said Samouni, who survived the shelling.

Israel launched the three-week offensive in Gaza in response to months of rocket fire by the ruling Hamas militant group. About 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the fighting, including hundreds of civilians, and thousands of buildings were destroyed or damaged. Thirteen Israelis also died.

Surviving members of the Samouni family had claimed the family was ordered by Israeli soldiers to take refuge in a house that was then shelled, killing 21 people.

Israel has argued that Hamas was responsible for civilian deaths during the fighting, saying the militant group used schools, homes and mosques for cover while attacking Israeli troops.

In its findings, the Israeli military said its investigation "totally refuted" allegations that the incident was a war crime. It denied the building was deliberately targeted or that soldiers acted recklessly.

Following the war, a U.N. report accused Israel of deliberately attacking civilians in its campaign against Hamas militants. The report's lead author, South African jurist Richard Goldstone, later questioned that finding, although the report was never modified or withdrawn.

The report also accused Hamas militants of targeting Israeli civilians, and said that both sides may have committed war crimes.

B'tselem, an Israeli human rights group, said it was "intolerable" that the military exonerated itself of responsibility in the Samouni case. The military's response "demonstrates yet again the need for an Israeli investigation mechanism that is external to the army."

The Israeli military has filed three indictments against soldiers who took part in the operation, and in three other cases, disciplinary action alone was taken.

Hamas, which opposes peace with Israel, has run Gaza since seizing control of the territory from the rival Palestinian group Fatah in 2007. The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which is backed by the West and seeks peace with Israel, governs the West Bank.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority collapsed during the Gaza war in 2009, and have remained frozen due to disagreements over Israeli settlement construction. The Palestinians refuse to negotiate while Israel continues to expand settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, occupied territories that the Palestinians claim for a future state.

The Palestinians delivered a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month outlining their conditions for restarting talks.

An Israeli official said Wednesday that Netanyahu's chief envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, would meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas next week to deliver Israel's response. Palestinian officials said the meeting would likely take place next Wednesday or Thursday at Abbas' West Bank headquarters. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.

___

Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.

Comments

[Cynthia Rays]

05:18 PM on 05/06/2012

The IDF did not concern itself with exactly who they were going to hit with their fire.

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish a Gazan and a doctor who works in Israel".. has devoted his life to medicine and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.

He lost three daughters, and a fourth was injured.
" He wanted the Israeli Army to tell him why his home, which he said harbored no militants, had been fired upon. He said if a mistake had been made and an errant tank shell had hit his home, he expected an apology, not excuses."

"The doctor, a recent widower, had not left Gaza since the Israeli assault began last month and was at home in the Jabaliya refugee camp with his eight children and other family members during the attack."
Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/world/middleeast/18doctor.html

But on Saturday, the day after three of his daughters and a niece were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza, Dr. Abuelaish, 53, struggled to hold on to the humane philosophy that has guided his life and work.

As he sat in a waiting room of the Israeli hospital where he works part time, he asked over and over, “Why did they do this?”

Elsewhere in the hospital another daughter and a niece were being treated for their wounds.

[Nwo2012]

05:42 AM on 05/05/2012

israel kicks a family out of their home, herds them into a random building and them bombs it killing everybody inside.

Nobody is found responsible.

Did I miss anything out.

[GM-Back]

09:49 AM on 05/05/2012

Prove it.

[-Red-Pill]

01:38 PM on 05/06/2012

Prove what? Prove that theyre dead (they are) or that they were murdered by Israelis (they were)?

[JoanneRM]

09:31 PM on 05/04/2012

While the UN was trying to collect reports, it solicited reports for Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza de facto. Israel wrote a report, giving an explanation for each incident, admitting fault for various incidents, but explaining why they happened. But Hamas started shelling Israel before the pull out from Gaza, continued after the pull out, and though they knew there would be consequences. As President Jimmy Carter said (no friend of Israel), the shelling is a War Crime. That has been the case with the town that is the closest to Gaza. The shells were not aimed at a particular person or group of people who were particular enemies. They were aimed at anyone and anything they happened to hit.

Hamas did not write a report. They didn't want to explain why they put their rocket launchers in the spaces between houses, next to Mosques and schools; any place where it would be dangerous for the people who you would expect to be there, and where Israel would catch hell for shelling. They would have had to explain why they had continued to launch shells at Israel in the face of Israel's threat that they would fight back in an unpleasant way. It is one thing to make accusations, but quite another to explain your own actions.
Israel has filed three criminal cases against soldiers, and three others were disciplined. As far as we know, nothing has happened to anyone in Hamas.

[Beeteetoo]

05:43 PM on 05/04/2012

"Israel launched the three-week offensive in Gaza in response to months of rocket fire by the ruling Hamas militant group"

The above statement is incorrect.

From the document "The Six Months of the Lull Arrangement" by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC), December 2008:
"A period of relative quiet between June 19 and November 4 : As of June 19, there was a marked reduction in the extent of attacks on the western Negev population. The lull was sporadically violated by rocket and mortar shell fire, carried out by rogue terrorist organizations, in some instance in defiance of Hamas (especially by Fatah and Al-Qaeda supporters). Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire."

http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_e017.htm

[JoanneRM]

10:14 PM on 05/04/2012

So from your point of view, and by your count, a reduced number of shells, though fired at a populated town, is okay. While you say that Hamas had NOTHING to do with it, Hamas IS the de facto government of Gaza, and controls it. If it wants to stop a group from shelling Israel, they will stop. They over powered Fatah, and by all reports, including some from the UN, they still eliminate members of Fatah.

Hamas, not some other group, started shelling Israel before Israel withdrew from Gaza, and continued after Israel withdrew. Israel asked Hamas to stop the shelling many times, but they ignored the request, even when Israel said they would close off Gaza if they didn't. Israel closed off Gaza, but the shelling continued. Then came Cast Lead.

You remember Hezbollah? Remember when Israel invaded Lebanon after they kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and was shelling Israel? Since Israel pulled out, Hezbollah has fired only one shell, and in March said if Israel attacks Iran, it will not attack Israel.They are becoming a real part of Lebanon's society and government, not just an armed gang in the south. They may never recognize Israel, but peace is all that is required.

[Beeteetoo]

01:18 AM on 05/05/2012

Reading and comprehension not your strong point?
The report is verbatim from the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center:
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/site/content/T1.asp?Sid=18&pid=121

My post contains not one jot of my point of view but since you brought it up, I am firmly of the opinion that if you drive people from their homes at gunpoint and imprison them on reservations, you must expect and deserve the consequences.

"Sderot Built on Ashes of Ethnically Cleansed and Defaced Najd"
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/sderot.html

[jason thomson]

04:12 PM on 05/04/2012

Israel has no right to the land they occupy, let alone their Zionist government bombing the people they exiled from their own country!!!!!

Zionism (Rothschild-ism), are AshkeNAZI fake Jews who use religion as a front to make people feel uncomfortable about challenging them when they are more like a secret society than a religion. Israel is the child of Satan, its parents are Britain & America.

Zionism is often used as a synonym for Jewish ppl when it is actually a political movement devised, funded & promoted through the 'House of Rothschild' to lay false claim to the land we call Israel or Palestine. This movement is opposed by many Jews. Zionists claim that the Old Testament says that 'God' made the Jews his 'Chosen People' & gave them the 'Promised Land' of Israel. Golda Meir, the former Israeli Prime Minister , said in the French newspaper, Le Monde, in 1971: "This country exists as the fulfilment of a promise made by God Himself. It would be ridiculous to ask it to account for its legitimacy"!!!!!

Brave Jewish writers like Arthur Koestler have confirmed from their research that Jewish people have no historical claim to the land of Israel. They are not the biblical Hebrews & they are certainly not 'Semites'. They originate from a a Sumerian people who became known as the 'Khazars' in what became southern Russia & the Caucasus Mountains.

[Nwo2012]

02:52 PM on 05/04/2012

Sigh. Flagged

[Mike Mathers5]

03:11 PM on 05/04/2012

There are no grounds to delete his comment or ban him. He expressed his opinion, backed by facts. If you don't like ppl's opinions just because they don't align with your own, then YOU should leave HP.

[Cynthia Rays]

11:32 PM on 05/03/2012

These deaths are no accident.

"The revelations centre on t-shirt designs made for soldiers that make light of shooting pregnant Palestinian mothers and children and include images of dead babies and destroyed mosques.
The t-shirts were printed for Israeli soldiers at the end of periods of deployment or training courses and were discovered by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
One, printed for a platoon of Israeli snipers depicts an armed Palestinian pregnant women caught in the crosshairs of a rifle, with the disturbing caption in English: "1 shot 2 kills"."
http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/15245946

[jake42]

11:56 PM on 05/03/2012

nope, this is one of the consequences of a military run amok, egged on by racist rabbi zealots, doing the politicians' dirty work to try and sway an upcoming election, murdering civilians at will and committing serious war crimes.

State terrorism at its worst: From the UN Mission's report:

Israel failed to take feasible precautions required by international law to avoid or minimize loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects. The firing of white phosphorus shells over the UNRWA compound, the intentional strike at the Al Quds hospital using high explosive artillery shells and white phosphorous, the attack against Al Wafa hospital, were violations of international humanitarian law.

There were numerous instances of deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects (individuals, whole families, houses, mosques) in violation of the fundamental international humanitarian law principle of distinction, resulting in deaths and serious injuries. Israeli attacks were also launched with the intention of spreading terror among the civilian population. In several cases, Israeli armed forces did not allow humanitarian organisations access to the wounded and medical relief, as required by international law.

. During the military operation, houses, factories, wells, schools, hospitals, police stations and other public buildings were destroyed, with families, including the elderly and children, left living amid the rubble of their former dwellings long after the attacks ended, as no reconstruction has been possible due to the continuing blockade.

[tallndumb]

07:10 PM on 05/03/2012

What a shocker! Israel investigates themselves and comes up with an innocent verdict. I would imagine that Charles Manson would have found himself innocent also.

[Nwo2012]

02:55 PM on 05/04/2012

Exactly what Israel has done here you mean

[jason thomson]

01:37 AM on 05/04/2012

Charles Manson the prophet, messenger of life, finder of lost children

Manson was tried UNLAWFULLY & is still being detained ILLEGALLY.
Manson was denied his constitutional right to defend himself as he was ruled "incompetent" yet Ted Bundy was & the state used it to their advantage. Allowing Manson to represent himself wasn't going to be to the states advantage or they would have allowed it. Manson wasn't naive enough to think himself a good attorney, but he knew better than to allow the state who are railroading him to 'defend' him. Charlie wasn't allowed to make a statement to the jury out of fear they might find him innocent, "could this man hypnotize you" was the propagated headline to get public backing. Mansons attorney did everything to give him the worst defence possible including choosing to rest or 'pass' instead of cross-examining witnesses. The lawyer was clearly working for the state.

"If you were the people that you were suppose to be, then, we would of had a trial, & we could have offered you some defence in court, for what your doing to your children. You blame me for what your doing to your children, but i was merely walking with your children, that's all i'm doing is i'm just walking with you, & i'm holding the line, but what you do is up to you." C.Manson,

[Enso]

05:21 PM on 05/03/2012

Series of defeats at the hands of Israelis, Syrian Lebanese and Jordanians and loss of funding from the Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabia and Soviet sponsors resulted in moderation of PLO radical position.

Hamas will follow the same arc given couple of more inevitable defeats and loss of support from Syria ( fait accompli) and Iran (only a question of time).

[-Red-Pill]

06:10 PM on 05/03/2012

wat

[Seawolf56]

03:59 PM on 05/03/2012

This is very typical... The Arogance of it all. I fell very sad for the family.

[ehjay]

02:15 PM on 05/03/2012

Three weeks fighting and about 1,400 Palestinians were killed including hundreds of civilians.Thirteen Israelis also died.

Wouldn't slaughtered or massacred have been more truthful than the term killed. Even Syria's Assad didn't match that rate for 3 weeks action.

[discocapper]

02:52 PM on 05/03/2012

The simplistic rhetoric never ends. What do you want, Israel to make it easier for more of its civilians to be killed?

Who bears the responsibility for the loss of innocent life when a war is started by those who immerse themselves and their arms inside a civilian population and begin firing at another civilian population?

[Posthuman]

03:52 PM on 05/03/2012

No, we want you to kill fewer of theirs. That would be nice.

And who bears responsibility when invading the land of another and building your society on top of theirs, which you razed, results in the loss of life?

[Nwo2012]

03:14 PM on 05/03/2012

Theres nothing to investigate. We know why they died. Israel sent armed soldiers into their house, kicked the family out, locked them in a building then blew it up.

[Rosin the Bow]

03:42 PM on 05/03/2012

But there's absolutely no evidence of that.

[robertstone1robert]

09:33 AM on 05/03/2012

What more could be expected of the UN? The fools at the UN rely on the testimony of Hamas and they lie to the disingenuous UN and to the media, put on phony spectacles, like the al Dura spectacle. They have the supposedly dead rise from their beds when the media leaves. To accept Hamas' testimony is like listening to a blind man giving testimony in a crime that he supposedly witnessed. Then, you might wonder, why is it listened to? The anti-Semitic UN members get their perverted kicks out of listening to the distorted reports.

Hamas does, indeed, use mosques, hospitals and schools to fire on the Israelis in order to provoke a response, to show the media the indifference of the Israelis to these "innocent civilian" places. The disingenuous media, which encouraged rock-throwers on the West Bank in order to get a story, report this story straight, not tongue firmly in cheek.