Israel reprimands top officers over UN compound strike

[spiritual_gunfighter]

Israel has revealed it has reprimanded two top army officers for authorising an artillery attack which hit a UN compound in Gaza last year.

In the attack on 15 January 2009 the compound was set ablaze by white phosphorus shells.

The admission is contained in the Israeli response to the UN's Goldstone report, which concluded both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes.

Both officers have retained their ranks, according to reports.

The Israeli army has not specifically said the rules of engagement were broken over the use of white phosphorus.

During the 22-day conflict last year, media pictures showed incendiary shells raining down on a UN compound.

ANALYSIS
Paul Wood
Paul Wood, BBC News, Jerusalem

Buried in paragraph 108 of the Israeli report to the UN is the key fact of the document. Two senior officers were reprimanded for failing to follow their own rules of engagement.

This is an explosive admission, especially as this is about an incident involving white phosphorus and Israel had always maintained that this was not misused in Gaza.

This is the first time that Israel has acknowledged, at least in part, allegations that civilians were jeopardised by the misuse of artillery at the main UN warehouse in Gaza City.

The officers will not face criminal prosecution. That is something the Israeli political-military establishment is desperate to avoid. They fear it would be disastrous for morale and would damage the ability of Israel's army to fight the next war.

However, Israel's problem is that if its own investigations appear to the outside world to be a whitewash, the UN is all the more likely to order a special tribunal at The Hague.

The officers were named in Israeli media reports as Gaza Division Commander Brig Gen Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Col Ilan Malka.

"Several artillery shells were fired in violation of the rules of engagement prohibiting use of such artillery near populated areas," the Israeli response to the Goldstone report says.

The officers were charged with "exceeding their authority" in ordering the use of the weapons in the attack.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8490646.stm