Israel denies violating international law in Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel - An internal Israeli investigation into the Gaza war released Wednesday found no violations of international law, outraging human rights groups that allege war crimes were committed.

Rights activists renewed their call for an independent inquiry, with Human Rights Watch denouncing it as “an insult” to Gaza civilians and proof the military would not objectively examine its conduct.

In Norway on Wednesday, a group of lawyers filed a complaint accusing 10 Israelis, including former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, of war crimes. The Norwegian government must now determine whether there are grounds for charges or a police investigation.

Israel launched its three-week offensive on Dec. 27 to try to halt daily rocket attacks from Gaza that had terrorized southern Israel for years. The use of air and ground power against Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers was unprecedented in Israel’s war against Palestinian militants, who operate within residential areas.

Palestinians say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed, including 926 civilians. Israel says 1,166 Palestinians were killed, including 709 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, 295 civilians and 162 men whose identities could not be confirmed.

The military conducted five separate investigations into some of its most controversial actions during the war, including attacks on and near U.N. and international facilities, shooting at medical workers and facilities, the widespread destruction of Palestinian homes and the use in densely populated Gaza of white phosphorus, a chemical agent that causes horrific burns.

The investigations uncovered “a very small number of incidents” in which intelligence or operational errors took place during the fighting, the military said. One included an airstrike that killed 21 members of the same family.

“These unfortunate incidents were unavoidable and occur in all combat situations, in particular of the type that Hamas forced on the (Israeli military), by choosing to fight from within the civilian population,” the military concluded in a report issued at the briefing.