Israeli military prosecutor discloses Gaza indictments without detailing charges

Israel’s Military Advocate General, Maj.-Gen. Itay Offir, said on Tuesday, November 3, that military prosecutors had filed “a fair number of indictments” against soldiers over their conduct in Gaza. Speaking at a Jerusalem conference of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, he gave the first public confirmation of multiple criminal indictments involving that conduct.

The disclosure followed an announcement by the Israel Defense Forces in mid-October that dozens of soldiers had faced disciplinary action over their conduct in Gaza. At the time of publication, the military had not specified how many indictments had been filed or what charges they contained. Their scope remained unclear, including whether they concerned violent crimes, theft or breaches of rules of engagement.

Offir also announced for the first time that 12 soldiers had been convicted of criminal actions in the West Bank. The military had not provided details of those offenses by publication. Previously publicized investigations or indictments have involved violence against Palestinians and Western foreigners, including journalists and foreign diplomats, but the nature of the newly disclosed convictions remained unspecified.

Further indictments were likely, Offir said, with several cases undergoing pre-indictment hearings. Those hearings take place after investigations and allow soldiers to challenge prosecutors’ cases before a final charging decision. Offir had previously said the military opened 150 criminal investigations connected to the war, including investigations into the treatment of Palestinian detainees.

The Jerusalem Post previously reported that more than 3,000 disciplinary probes had taken place and that dozens of war-related cases dating from before 2025 had been closed. The military has withheld information about most closed cases because of concerns that international judicial bodies could misuse it against Israelis in biased war crimes proceedings.

On August 19, however, the military published a detailed account of its handling of five high-profile cases. Some had advanced toward possible indictments, while others had been closed. The report explained the reasons behind those decisions.

Offir also challenged genocide allegations against Israel presented in the documentary NAZA, calling its depiction “divorced from reality.” He described NAZA as an acronym referring to collateral damage, or estimated civilian harm, and said the purpose of calculating that harm was to reduce it.

According to Offir, militaries around the world use the analytical tool to assess whether strikes are lawful and whether plans should be changed or canceled. He said such changes and cancellations had occurred many times during the war, and disputed the documentary’s portrayal of the calculations as evidence of indifference to civilians.