Ramat Gan, Israel--The Israeli army's top legal official said Thursday he was not concerned by Palestinian plans to sue Israel at the International Criminal Court over its conduct in last summer's war in Gaza.
Major General Dan Efrony said the military was currently running 15 criminal investigations into incidents which took place during the 50-day war, expressing confidence they would be sufficient to head off a parallel probe by the Hague-based court.
"It should be enough with our quality and professionalism, and if it meets our professional standards then it should meet that of any others," he told journalists on the last day of a military legal conference near Tel Aviv.
Efrony denied that a Palestinian move to join the court on January 7 had put pressure on Israel to open its own investigations.
"All my decisions are unconnected to the ICC... There has been no change because we are professionals," he said.
"When we decide to launch a criminal investigation, it's a full and thorough criminal investigation -- it's not just to counteract the ICC -- never."
The Palestinian move to join the ICC, which will take effect in early April, sets the scene for potential legal action against Israeli officials for alleged war crimes, in a move which has infuriated the Jewish state.
On January 16 the ICC announced "a preliminary examination" into Israel's actions over a period, which includes the Gaza war during which around 2,200 Palestinians were killed. UN figures suggest the majority were civilians.
"When I get up in the morning, I can look in the mirror without any qualms of conscience," Efrony said.
"Our agenda is not set by the ICC, we examine and investigate what should be investigated. We are a state that is willing and able to investigate and indict anyone that does something wrong."
Efrony's office has so far opened 15 criminal investigations into incidents which took place during the war and has heard testimony from 17 Palestinians who travelled from Gaza to give evidence.
Among the cases are the shelling of a UN school in the northern town of Beit Hanun on July 24 that medics said killed at least 15 people, and the July 16 bombing of a Gaza City beach where four children died.
He said that 10 of the investigations were opened for clear-cut criminal acts, while the other five came about as a result of an investigation by the fact-finding assessment teams looking into "exceptional incidents" during the war.
So far, no indictments have been filed.
Efrony said that two other cases filed through the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights -- one of them relating to allegations of theft -- had been closed after the complainants did not show up to testify.
"We said they would have the immunity to come and go back to the Gaza Strip but they decided not to come."
AFP
