Israel fails to investigate war crime accusations
The pattern of IDF investigative activity suggests the probes are focused on protecting 'institutional legitimacy' rather than upholding justice, the UK-based the NGO said in a report published on Saturday.
Out of 52 publicly acknowledged IDF probes into alleged war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, only one resulted in a prison sentence, according to AOAV. The incidents took place between October 2023 and June 2025 and involved some 1,300 reported victims.
Six cases in total resulted in an 'admission of error,' with officers being either dismissed or reprimanded in three instances. The IDF found 'no violation' in seven more cases, the NGO said in its latest report.
A total of 39 cases – or three quarters of all probes monitored by AOAV – have no progress updates available to the public or the English-speaking media. The unresolved cases include the killing of 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza in February 2024 and an airstrike that killed 45 Palestinians in a camp in Rafah in May 2024, among others.
The data paint 'a picture not of military accountability, but of disingenuous damage control,' the monitor said in its report. 'There was a lurking suspicion that the outcomes of any investigation may have been to serve to protect institutional legitimacy rather than to deliver justice.'
The pattern is also consistent with the way the IDF handled similar cases in previous Gaza conflicts, where over 80% of complaints were allegedly closed without criminal probes, AOAV said, citing data from Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights NGO.
West Jerusalem launched its military campaign in Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 attack in which Hamas killed 1,200 people and took over 200 hostages.
Since then, more than 55,600 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza, according to the enclave's health ministry. West Jerusalem has also faced accusations of war crimes for obstructing humanitarian aid. Neither the IDF nor any Israeli officials have commented on the AOAV report.
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