Yesh Din has been monitoring the military’s law enforcement response to offenses committed by soldiers against Palestinians or their property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) since 2005. Every year, we publish current data based on information provided to Yesh Din by the Israeli military in response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, as well as multi-year monitoring of military law enforcement by Yesh Din.

This data sheet focuses on the military law enforcement system’s response to soldier offenses against Palestinians committed in the West Bank from 2018 to 2022. This data sheet, summarizing the five years preceding the current war in Gaza, demonstrates that military law enforcement authorities consistently avoid investigating and prosecuting soldiers who commit offenses against Palestinians in the West Bank. In this way, the military is failing to uphold its duty to protect Palestinian residents from offenses committed by Israeli soldiers and commanders which are endemic to and inherent in Israel’s ongoing occupation. This systemic failure paves the way for intervention by international tribunals.

The military’s data shows that despite the large number of complaints of harm to Palestinians by soldiers each year, investigations are opened only in a minority of the cases, and the number of indictments filed against the implicated soldiers is minuscule.  Finally, even in the rare instances in which soldiers are convicted of offenses against Palestinians, the military courts hand down lenient sentences.

Between 2018 and 2022, a total of 862 complaints concerning suspected soldier offenses against Palestinians in the West Bank were brought to the attention of the military law enforcement system. Of these, 258 criminal investigations were opened, accounting for 30% of all complaints. Only 13 investigations concerning offenses against Palestinians in the West Bank culminated in indictments against 29 soldiers, only one in an incident involving the killing of a Palestinian. This means soldiers were prosecuted in only 1.5% of the total number of complaints against them, which already represents only a fraction of the actual incidents. The probability of an Israeli soldier facing prosecution for killing Palestinians is just 0.4% – one prosecution in 219 fatalities brought to the military’s attention.

The data for 2018-2022 indicate the military law enforcement system is reluctant to take appropriate action regarding soldier offenses against Palestinians which are endemic to and inherent in Israel’s ongoing occupation. The data shows that Israel is unwilling to conduct genuine investigation and prosecution procedures in cases of offenses committed by soldiers.