Full Focus

U.S. Army Captain Michael Kelvington, commander of the Battle company, 1-508 Parachute Infantry battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, bows next to remains of Gulam Dostager, a member of Afghan Local Police who was killed in the blast of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) during the joint Tor Janda (Black Flag in Pashtu) operation, in Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan May 25, 2012. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Photos of the week

Our best photos from the past week.  See more 

Pictures

U.S. Army Captain Michael Kelvington, commander of the Battle company, 1-508 Parachute Infantry battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, bows next to remains of Gulam Dostager, a member of Afghan Local Police who was killed in the blast of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) during the joint Tor Janda (Black Flag in Pashtu) operation, in Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan May 25, 2012. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Reuters Photojournalism

Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography.  See more | Photo caption 

Members of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly over the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan as part of the 25th annual Fleet Week celebration in New York, May 23, 2012. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (UNITED STATES - Tags: MILITARY ANNIVERSARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Fleet Week

The U.S. Navy takes Manhattan for a week.  Slideshow 

Photo

The SpaceX mission

A privately owned unmanned rocket blasts off on a mission to be the first commercial flight to the International Space Station.  Slideshow 

Israel indicts two soldiers over Gaza war conduct

Related Topics

JERUSALEM | Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:48pm EST

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's military on Thursday indicted two of its soldiers for endangering the life of a Palestinian boy during Israel's three-week offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip more than a year ago.

A statement issued by the military said the soldiers faced charges for instructing the boy to open several bags suspected to be booby trapped while searching a building in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza.

The bags turned out to be harmless.

An Israeli military official said the soldiers could face up to three years in jail.

The military said it opened the investigation after the incident was brought to its attention by the United Nations, but emphasized it was "completely unrelated" to a report issued by U.N. investigator Richard Goldstone.

Israel has said it opened 36 criminal investigations into complaints of improper conduct by its troops during the fighting with Hamas gunmen, much of which occurred in residential areas.

Last month a senior Israeli field officer in the Gaza war was reprimanded over artillery shelling in a heavily populated area that hit a United Nations compound during the fighting.

Israel, which accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields, has boycotted Goldstone's report, issued in September, as unbalanced.

Some 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, and 13 Israelis were killed in the offensive Israel launched in December 2008 with the aim of ending cross-border rocket fire.

(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch)
World
United Nations
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (3)
Pedro07 wrote:
Dear Ari Rabinovitch, FYI over 40 per cent of the nearly 1300 Palestinians killed in the Israeli offensive, launched on 27 December with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks into Israel, and almost half of the 3,860 wounded, are women and children, according to reports cited as credible by the UN. OVER 400 CHILDREN DIED. I’m not saying this, the UN is: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29524&Cr=Gaza&Cr1.

Mar 11, 2010 4:23pm EST  --  Report as abuse
Pedro07 wrote:
Roughly 20 Israelis have been killed by rocket attacks throughout the years. The right of self defense among individuals nor among nations is absolute–they both require that the response be reasonable. If someone breaks into your house, you have the right to use reasonable force to stop them–you do not have the right to kill everyone who lives in the neighborhood that the thief comes from!! (Even the Bible says, an eye for an eye–not 100 to 1 eyes!). The U.N special rapporteur for human rights, professor Richard Falk (who is Jewish BTW) has labeled what Israel has been doing to the people of Gaza for years as a “crime against humanity – a flagrant and massive violation of the international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention – he has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate and determine whether Israeli civilian and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted AND prosecuted for violations of international criminal law.”.

Mar 11, 2010 4:53pm EST  --  Report as abuse
Pedro07 wrote:
Roughly 20 Israelis have been killed by rocket attacks throughout the years. The right of self defense among individuals nor among nations is absolute–they both require that the response be reasonable. If someone breaks into your house, you have the right to use reasonable force to stop them–you do not have the right to kill everyone who lives in the neighborhood that the thief comes from!! (Even the Bible says, an eye for an eye–not 100 to 1 eyes!). The U.N special rapporteur for human rights, professor Richard Falk (who is Jewish BTW) has labeled what Israel has been doing to the people of Gaza for years as a “crime against humanity – a flagrant and massive violation of the international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention – he has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate and determine whether Israeli civilian and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted AND prosecuted for violations of international criminal law.”.

Mar 11, 2010 4:54pm EST  --  Report as abuse
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.
See All Comments »