Israel’s war in Gaza has led to unprecedented civilian casualties and destruction and is considered one of the most devastating military offensives in the world in the 21st century. Israeli decision makers inside the government and the military, who are directly responsible for Israel’s use of force policy, have significantly expanded the harm caused to innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed so far, infrastructure vital to civilian life in Gaza was obliterated, and starvation is spreading among hundreds of thousands of residents who have been uprooted from their homes.

Israel’s warfare in the Gaza Strip has been marked by massive bombardments, systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure and even starvation, drawing scathing criticism and allegations that Israeli security forces are breaching international humanitarian law (the laws of war). The State of Israel counters these allegations by arguing it is operating according to the laws of war, including upholding its duty to investigate suspicions of war crimes. This report examines whether Israel’s law enforcement mechanism has the capacity to investigate alleged grave breaches of the laws of war during the war in Gaza and whether it is has any interest in doing so.

In May 2024, the Israeli military reported that dozens of investigations were opened into incidents raising suspicions that soldiers committed offenses during the war. In addition, the military reported that hundreds of other incidents that occurred during the war were forwarded to the General Staff Mechanism for Fact-Finding Assessments (FFA Mechanism). This mechanism is tasked with conducting rapid preliminary inquiries into suspected violations of the laws of war and assists the Military Advocate General in deciding whether to launch a criminal investigation or not.

It may seem impossible to predict how Israeli law enforcement mechanisms will operate given that there are so many extremely grave suspicions. Yet the conclusion based on Yesh Din’s monitoring of the military law enforcement mechanism with regards to “Operation Protective Edge”, operation to repress the Great March of Return protests and “Operation Guardian of the Walls”, which all occurred in the Gaza Strip during the past decade, is that the Israeli law enforcement mechanism  has proven it is not interested in investigating suspicions of war crimes properly, and is certainly not interested in investigating decisions such as its policy on use of fire.

The results of Israel’s law enforcement mechanism’s work over the past decade show that it rarely opens investigations against junior-ranking soldiers and completely refrains from investigating decision makers at the top command levels. The work of the FFA Mechanism, which receives most of the complaints regarding suspected violations of international law, is typically drawn out, often exceeding any timetables set by the military itself. For example, several incidents transferred to the FFA Mechanism for review in 2014 were still under the Mechanism’s review in 2022. This is the case although this mechanism is tasked with performing a swift factual assessment within just a few weeks before the Military Advocate General’s Corps decide whether to open an investigation or not. Such extreme deviation from the timetables attest to the fact that it is in Israel’s interest to intentionally delay and refrain from genuine and effective investigation of incidents that raise suspicions of war crimes.

To the best of Yesh Din’s knowledge, of all complaints transferred to the military concerning the three aforementioned significant military incidents in Gaza, at least 664 complaints were transferred to the FFA Mechanism for review. 542 (81.6%) incidents were closed without a criminal investigation opened. Just 41 incidents (6%) led to a criminal investigation opened (a total of 19 investigations) after the FFA Mechanism’s review. At the time of writing, the FFA Mechanism’s work over nearly a decade with regards to three military events in the Gaza Strip resulted in just one investigation that produced an indictment, so that just 0.17% of all incidents reviewed by the FFA Mechanism and whose outcomes are known (573) led to prosecution. In practice, hundreds of incidents that raised suspicions of violation of international law, two military offensives, and an operation to thwart protests led to just three indictments served, two of which were opened without the FFA Mechanism’s intervention.

Yesh Din’s analysis of the Israeli law enforcement system’s work, and in particular that of the General Staff Mechanism for Fact-Finding Assessments shows that Israel responds to suspicions of war crimes in this way:

  • Refrains from investigating high-ranking decision makers and policy makers The top ranks in government, military and Office of the Attorney General, who are responsible for setting Israel’s use of force policy, are not subject to any review by the law enforcement system
  • Refrains from conducting a proper and effective assessment The FFA Mechanism deliberately wastes precious time, and almost all the cases it assesses are subsequently closed without a decision to open a criminal investigation
  • Extends near complete immunity to commanders and soldiers who harm Palestinians Nearly zero indictments are served relative to the number of complaints of soldiers and commanders who commit offenses. In rare cases when commanders or soldiers are convicted, they receive ridiculously lenient sentences compared with the severity of the offense

The data presented in this report raise heavy suspicions that the military law enforcement mechanism’s main role, and particularly the FFA Mechanism, is to maintain an appearance of a functional mechanism in order to evade properly investigating suspected war crimes.  This same semblance of a functioning investigation mechanism serves Israel’s claim against international tribunals’ intervention and for shielding itself from external criticism. Given these circumstances, it is highly doubtful whether the State of Israel is willing or able to conduct serious, effective investigations into grave allegations of violations of the laws of war during the war in Gaza.