The IDF says it’s investigating hundreds of deadly incidents. What happened to them? | BBC Verify

BBC Verify’s Investigation

BBC Verify investigated allegations of deaths and injuries that the Israeli military said it would review or investigate. Using an AI-assisted search of about 60,000 news reports, followed by manual checks, the team identified 254 incidents with no publicly available outcome on the IDF website.

The cases included:

• The killing of a mother and daughter in the grounds of Gaza’s Catholic church, which church officials attributed to Israeli sniper fire.
• A strike on the Tabin school complex, where Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 93 deaths.
• The killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab, several of her relatives and two paramedics. The IDF had said Rajab’s case was referred for a criminal investigation.

The IDF told the BBC that the church and school incidents were still under review, but did not provide specific findings on most of the cases.

IDF Response

The IDF said it takes allegations seriously. It said an internal body had assessed about 150 incidents and referred them to the Military Advocate General’s Corps, and that some investigations related to the war had led to indictments and convictions.

The military said it publishes outcomes when legal, operational and privacy considerations allow. The BBC repeatedly sought case-specific information but received substantive information on only two incidents, with no clear account of the status of the wider list.

Investigations and Accountability

The report explains that suspected misconduct may be referred for evidence-gathering before military prosecutors decide whether to open a criminal investigation. Outcomes are not always made public.

A former senior IDF legal official said the military should be more forthcoming, while noting that battlefield mistakes are not necessarily criminal. International humanitarian law expert Professor Janina Dill said parties to a conflict have a responsibility to investigate credible allegations. She added that a lack of thorough investigations could weaken Israel’s claim that it can ensure accountability.

Another interviewee argued that serious accountability was unlikely in Israel’s current political climate and called for an external review of military orders, rather than relying solely on investigations conducted within the military.

The BBC concluded that, despite the IDF’s assurances, it could not establish what had happened to most of the 254 cases.

Presenters and Contributors

• Merlin Thomas, BBC Verify correspondent
• Professor Janina Dill
• A former senior IDF legal official, not named in the subtitles
• Tom, a BBC colleague whose surname was not given
• An unnamed interviewee who discussed accountability and external review