The Israeli military today ordered a probe into six incidents, including the bombing of a UN school that killed 20 Palestinians, during its 50-day war in the Gaza Strip last year that claimed more than 2,100 lives.
The decision to launch the investigation came amid pressure from the Palestinian Authority to push criminal charges against Israel at the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC).
Chief Military Advocate General Maj Gen Danny Efroni announced the probe into the July 30 incident, when the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fired several tank shells at the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in the Jabaliya camp, housing hundreds of Palestinian refugees.
Efroni said the six events are part of the 65 incidents that were referred to the Judge Advocate General's Office (JAG) for review.
"Findings were presented before the JAG and set reasonable grounds to suspect that the attack was not in accordance with the principles that apply to the IDF and therefore the JAG decided to initiate a police investigation into the case," the Israeli army said.
The decision also comes two-days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu's re-election.
The IDF strike at the UN school elicited widespread international condemnation, including from the UN and the US.
The IDF had defended the action at the time, saying soldiers targeted Hamas militants who launched mortar shells from the school building.
Israel launched the operation in Gaza last summer in what it said was a mission to halt relentless rocket fire by Hamas terrorists.
The 50-day war is said to have killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and 72 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
The IDF also said it would open a criminal investigation into three incidents where Palestinian detainees from Gaza were reportedly beaten, and in other two incidents of looting.
The military's Criminal Investigations Division (CID) had last November begun to probe numerous IDF officers suspected of criminal offences that led to the deaths of scores of non-combatant Palestinians during Operation Protective Edge.
General Efroni then decided to expand investigations into IDF officers regarding a series of incidents in which 50 Palestinians were killed.
A source familiar with the probe reportedly told news portal Ynet that in December the military police collected different pieces of evidence that bolstered suspicions against the officers.
In early 2009, following a campaign similar to Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, the Israeli army had convicted four soldiers on various charges, including looting, improper use of a weapon and life-endangering conduct. The most serious sentence was a three-and-a-half-month prison term.
