Impunity in Gaza? 9 in 10 Israeli probes into soldiers killing civilians end without punishment, reports monitoring group

Nearly 9 out of 10 Israeli military probes into alleged war crimes or misconduct by its troops in Gaza since the war began have either been closed without fault or left unresolved, a new report claims. UK-based group Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) has reached this conclusion after tracking 52 publicly reported investigations between October 2023 and June 2025. These incidents collectively involved the deaths of over 1,300 Palestinians and injuries to nearly 1,900 more. But according to AOAV, only six cases so far have resulted in any disciplinary action—and just one led to a soldier serving a few months behind bars.

Israel's unpunished war crimes

These war crimes, as reported by the Guardian, include incidents where Palestinians queueing for food were gunned down and an instance where a soldier attacked bound and blindfolded prisoners with fists and a baton. Among the still-unresolved cases are some of the most shocking civilian death tolls in the conflict:
– The February 2024 flour queue airstrike in Gaza City that killed at least 112
– The May firebombing of a tent camp in Rafah that killed 45
– The June 1 shooting of 31 civilians trying to collect food at a Rafah distribution point. Even as witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire on unarmed civilians, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) initially dismissed the reports as "false," before later claiming that the incident was still "under review."

Israel's pattern of impunity

AOAV's researchers, Iain Overton and Lucas Tsantzouris, suggest that the data suggests that Israel was seeking to create a "pattern of impunity" by delaying, burying, or clearing allegations of wrongdoing even in cases involving "the most severe or public accusations of wrongdoing by their forces".

The IDF, however, insists it was meeting both Israeli and international legal standards. It claims it "conducts examination and investigation processes regarding exceptional incidents that occurred during operational activity, in which there is a suspicion of a violation of the law". It said it uses a dual system — a military police division under the advocate general for criminal enquiries and a fact-finding assessment (FFA) team that gathers preliminary information.

But critics, including the Israeli rights group Yesh Din, argue the process is opaque, slow, and rarely leads to meaningful accountability. Of 664 FFA investigations opened after previous Gaza operations, only one led to a prosecution, said the group.

In its most recent update, in August 2024, the IDF said it had launched 74 criminal probes since the war began, including 52 related to detainee deaths or mistreatment. Only a handful involve suspected war crimes during combat. Most others involve theft, property damage, or alleged abuse.

The one case that led to jail time involved a reservist who beat blindfolded prisoners at the Sde Teiman detention facility. He was sentenced to seven months. Another rare example of disciplinary action came after seven World Central Kitchen aid workers were killed in an April airstrike. A colonel and a major were dismissed, and three officers were reprimanded. The IDF called it a "grave mistake" caused by a misidentification, but the charity later dismissed the probe as lacking credibility.