The "world's most moral army" in action: Israeli military rejects tales of Gaza killings

JERUSALEM (AFP) — The Israeli military on Monday closed an investigation into soldiers' accounts of the killing of civilians during the war in Gaza, calling the accounts inaccurate and "based on hearsay."

"The military police investigation found that the crucial components of their descriptions were based on hearsay and not supported by specific personal knowledge," the military said in a statement which drew sharp criticism from human rights groups.

"Once the claims were checked, they were not supported by the facts as determined by the investigation."

Several soldiers who took part in Israel's massive offensive on Gaza at the turn of the year had alleged during a conference at a pre-military academy that troops had deliberately killed civilians and destroyed property.

Their testimonies, which were published in an Israeli journal earlier this month, included one soldier's recollection of an Israeli sharpshooter killing a Palestinian mother and her two children when they walked along a closed path.

The military denied the soldier had witnessed the incident first-hand.

"In fact, the soldier witnessed no such thing, and was only repeating a rumour he had heard," it said, adding that he may have confused it with a separate incident in which Israeli forces shot a woman suicide bomber.

"It is unfortunate that none of the speakers at the conference was careful to be accurate in the depiction of his claims," said Brigadier General Avichai Mendelblit, the Military Advocate General.

"They chose to present various incidents of a severe nature, despite not personally witnessing and knowing much about them," he said.

Israel said it did not deliberately target civilians during the 22-day war in December and January that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, and has said it is investigating all incidents in which its forces were accused of doing so.

Nine Israeli human rights groups criticised the conclusions, which they said raised suspicions that the army merely sought to absolve itself of any blame.

"The closing of the army's own investigation only strengthens the need for the attorney general to allow for an independent non-partisan investigative body to be established in order to look into all Israeli army activity during Operation Cast Lead," the groups said in a joint statement."