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The Israeli army has closed an investigation into alleged killings of civilians during its offensive in the Gaza Strip, claiming soldiers' testimonies were based on hearsay, "purposely exaggerated" and not supported by facts.
Allegations of wrongful shootings emerged from some soldiers speaking in a closed-door meeting at a military prep school. Their accounts, along with their reports of vandalism in Palestinian homes, were published by Israeli media earlier this month.
The army's chief prosecutor angrily accused the soldiers of harming Israel's international image. "It will be difficult to evaluate the damage done to the image and morals of the Israel Defense Forces and its soldiers ... in Israel and the world," Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit said.
Human rights groups accused the military of carrying out a biased and hasty inquiry that ignored key evidence and urged an independent body be formed to investigate Israeli army activity in Gaza.
One case involved the killing of an elderly woman by a rooftop sniper, and the second described a sniper fatally shooting a mother and two children who had entered a no-go zone, according to a transcript of the testimony.
The soldiers' accounts set off soul-searching in a country where the military is widely revered. They also echoed Palestinian allegations that Israel's assault did not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and fueled assertions by some international rights groups that Israel violated the laws of war.
Israel used unprecedented force during the three-week operation, launched against Gaza's Hamas rulers last December to halt eight years of rocket attacks on Israeli border towns. After a week of aerial bombardments, the military launched a two-week ground offensive.
More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including more than 900 civilians, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which published a list of names of the dead. Israel has said the toll was lower, and the "vast majority" of the dead were militants. But it did not publish a list to support the assertion.
In announcing the findings yesterday, the army said the soldiers' testimonies "were purposely exaggerated and made extreme, in order to make a point" to those attending the closed session.
