Tel aviv: Israel filed only three criminal indictments against its soldiers for offenses related to its Gaza offensive during the first 18 months of the conflict, despite extensive documentation of violations, according to a new report by investigative news outlet Drop Site.
According to Anadolu Agency, the report highlighted that Israel's military justice system produced these indictments from October 2023, when the offensive began, through March 2025. Of the three cases, only one resulted in a conviction, while the two others remain pending. The report was based on six responses to freedom of information requests submitted by Israeli rights group Yesh Din between January 2024 and April 2025.
The report detailed the case of 5-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed along with six family members and two rescue workers in Gaza City on January 29, 2024. Although the Israeli military initially announced an investigation, it later claimed its forces were not present in the area, despite satellite evidence suggesting otherwise. The case was transferred to the General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment mechanism, but no further findings were ever released, and no one was charged.
The Drop Site investigation described Israel's military justice system as slow, opaque, and structured to shield soldiers from accountability. Yesh Din's data coordinator Noa Cohen expressed no surprise at the low number of indictments, stating that the few indictments that do occur are typically the result of random actions or coincidences.
The documents reviewed revealed that as of August 15, 2024, the military had logged 95 formal complaints about Gaza incidents, including references to hundreds of incidents. A total of 1,456 'exceptional incidents' were referred to the fact-finding mechanism, but only 11 were completed, with most cases remaining under review without decisions. By the same date, Israel's Military Police Criminal Investigation Division had opened 60 criminal investigations and completed 12, leading to a single indictment. The two other indictments filed in early 2025 concern a soldier accused of looting and five soldiers charged with torturing a handcuffed Palestinian detainee.
The report noted that Israeli soldiers have posted thousands of videos and photos showing apparent abuses, including the shooting of unarmed civilians, mistreatment of detainees, looting, and arson. Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit compiled over 2,500 such posts, but these resulted in minimal accountability. Anadolu has published two books presenting evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza since October 2023.
The report also criticized the lack of investigations into mass-casualty strikes, attacks on hospitals, and destruction of civilian infrastructure, often classified by Israeli doctrine as 'lawful combat operations.' Under the laws of war, these acts could be considered war crimes, as sites like hospitals and civilian housing are supposed to be exempt from attacks.
Leaked Justice Ministry documents published by DDOSecrets revealed that Israeli authorities view internal inquiries as a tool to prevent international prosecutions by claiming incidents were reviewed domestically. This relies on the principle of complementarity, which limits the jurisdiction of international courts if a state claims to be conducting its own investigations.
Human rights groups, including Yesh Din and B'Tselem, have stopped cooperating with Israeli military investigations, citing the system's structural incapacity to prosecute soldiers or commanders. A study by Yesh Din found that of 664 incidents reviewed over a decade, only one resulted in an indictment.
Public opposition to prosecutions has grown in Israel, with protests erupting after soldiers were indicted over a filmed gang rape incident. In this context, Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned and was later arrested, accused by Defense Minister Israel Katz of spreading a 'blood libel.'
Yesh Din's Cohen stated that impunity, which long existed in practice, has now become a concrete demand. The report noted that in the Gaza offensive since October 2023, Israel has killed over 69,000 people, most of them women and children, and injured over 170,700 others. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over atrocities committed in Gaza.