[07/February/2010]

New York, February 07 (Saba) -Israel has failed to show it will conduct an impartial investigation of allegations that it committed war crimes during its Gaza offensive last winter, an international human rights group said Sunday, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said inquiries by Israel's military have largely focused on possible wrongdoing by individual soldiers without looking into high-level decisions that led to large numbers of civilian casualties, such as artillery fire into populated areas.

Israeli investigators missed an important piece of evidence in one of the most contested incidents of the war, in which Gaza's only flour mill was severely damaged by Israeli fire, said Human Rights Watch, which discussed the ongoing investigations with Israeli military lawyers last week.

"Israel claims it is conducting credible and impartial investigations, but it has so far failed to make that case," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch.

"An independent investigation is crucial to understand why so many civilians died and to bring justice for the victims of unlawful attacks."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor dismissed the group's findings, saying that the military is investigating "in full transparency everything that needs to be investigated."Israeli human rights groups have also called for an independent probe.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far given no indication that he plans to authorize such an investigation.(

Saba