Gaza City, February 02: The Israeli government has announced disciplining two high-ranking officers for using white phosphorus shelling during the three-week war on the Gaza Strip, though the Israeli army flatly denies the reports and insists that none of its officers has been reprimanded.
“The Commander of the Southern Command disciplined a brigadier-general and a colonel for exceeding their authority in a manner that jeopardized the lives of others,” the government said in its response to a UN report accusing Israel of war crimes during the war, reported.
Israeli sources named the two officers in question as Division Commander Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Col. Ilan Malka.
They were responsible for authorizing shells fired at a UN headquarters where more than 700 civilians were sheltering.
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“During the course of a military operation in Tel El Hawa, IDF (Israeli army) forces fired several artillery shells in violation of the rules of engagement prohibiting use of such artillery near populated areas,” said the Israeli report sent to the UN at the weekend.
The report concedes that at least one UNRWA employee and two Palestinian civilians taking shelter in the Compound were hurt by the munitions.
Researchers and specialists have found evidence of Israel’s use of white phosphorous, a chemical that burns human flesh to the bone, in shelling the densely-populated Gaza Strip.
The accusation was originally denied by the army before it changed its position last summer and admitted that the munitions had been used to provide smoke and tracer illumination during onslaught.
The use of white phosphorus as a weapon, even against military targets situated within population centers, is banned by international conventions.
Contradictory
The Israeli report said the army has placed a written reprimand in the two commanders’ personnel files, but did not specify any other punishment.
“Israel does not need any admonition from the international community,” Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Reuters.
“We keep our high standards on morality, and the fact that we took disciplinary action against very high and senior officers is just the proof.”
But Israeli army sources flatly denied that any senior officer had been subjected to disciplinary action.
The army, however, did not deny that white phosphorus munitions were in fact used during the war.
Israeli sources suggest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now supports an Israeli investigation into civilian deaths during Israel’s three-week Gaza offensive.
The Israeli army has successfully resisted an attempt for an inquiry into the targeting of civilians in Gaza.
More than 1,400 Gazans, including 437 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians, were killed and 5,450 wounded in three weeks of air, sea and land attacks.
The onslaught wrecked havoc on the Gaza infrastructure, destroying nearly 20,000 homes and thousands of other buildings across the territory.
Israel has boycotted a UN fact-finding investigation led by world-renowned South African jurist Richard Goldstone.
Goldstone, a Jew, has accused Israeli of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
-Agencies