State Comptroller to probe if Israel violated international law during Gaza operation
As UN Human Rights Council set to launch probe of Operation Protective Edge, state comptroller announces internal probe.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFState Comptroller Joseph Shapira(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
State Comptroller Joseph Shapira plans to investigate IDF actions and the decisions Israeli leaders and politicians made regarding Operation Protective Edge.The probe will look at all aspects of the conflict, including whether Israel violated international law.The announcement of the investigation came two days after the UN Human Rights Council named a three-member panel to investigate possible violations of international law during the Gaza war, which began on July 8. The move followed charges by Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and other top UN officials about possible Israeli war crimes during the conflict, in which, according to Hamas, close to 2,000 Palestinians have been killed, including women and children.“In light of the allegations that have been raised, that Israel breached international law and has not examined IDF action according to international law, the state comptroller has decided to investigate military and political decision-making during Operation Protective Edge,” Shapira’s office said on Wednesday.The investigation will examine the campaign through the lens of international law and decisions by the High Court of Justice, as well as past reports on IDF actions.The State Comptroller’s Office said Shapira would expand an existing military probe into the handling of the threat from the attack tunnels leading from Gaza into Israel. Until the war began, most Israelis had not fully understood the extent of this threat.The investigation will also cover the IDF Home Front Command’s actions before and during the war, including the availability of bomb shelters, the effectiveness of the Color Red rocket alert siren system, the options available to those under fire, and the country’s public relations surrounding the conflict.Shapira’s probe comes in addition to an investigation that the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is carrying out on the operation.The comptroller’s office said it had received scores of complaints in recent weeks about Operation Protective Edge.Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.
