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Less than 1% of complaints against soldiers in West Bank lead to charges, data shows

6 35
yesterday

More than 99 percent of complaints of harm done to West Bank Palestinian civilians by Israeli soldiers in recent years were closed without indictment, according to data newly released by the Military Advocate General’s Office.

The data was obtained via a freedom of information request by the left-wing Yesh Din organization, which gave it exclusively to The Times of Israel.

Among the allegations of wrongdoing, most of which were never fully investigated, were 696 complaints over incidents in which Palestinians were killed by IDF action, as well as incidents in which civilians sustained life-altering injuries from gunshot wounds, suffered beatings, or had their property looted or damaged by IDF soldiers.

Yesh Din, which provides legal assistance to Palestinian civilians, also found that MAG regularly took longer than it should to look into claims of wrongdoing filed by the aid organization which, it charged, contributed to soldiers’ sense of impunity when dealing with Palestinians.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit has not yet replied to a request for comment, but the military insists that investigations are undertaken when soldiers are suspected of violating the law and denies dragging its feet or allowing soldiers to act contrary to legal or ethical norms.

From 2016 to 2024, according to figures provided by MAG, a total of 2,427 complaints were filed by Palestinian residents of the West Bank against IDF soldiers.

Those complaints resulted in 552 investigations being launched, representing 21.6% of cases. Indictments were served in just 23 cases, 0.9% of the total number of complaints over nine years.

Of the 696 complaints filed to MAG in which a Palestinian was killed as a result of IDF action, 195 investigations were opened.

But just two of those investigations resulted in indictments, just 1% of such cases, one of which was the indictment against Elor Azaria who was caught on camera shooting dead a disarmed and seriously wounded Palestinian assailant.

According to IDF policy, complaints involving........

© The Times of Israel