Almost two years into Israel’s war on Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government has faced countless allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including committing genocide against Palestinians.
Yet despite mounting evidence and global outrage, Israel has faced virtually no accountability, often shielded by unwavering US backing and diplomatic cover at the UN.
Each time public outrage has surged over highly publicised killings, Israel has promised to “investigate itself”. Officials frequently insist that such incidents are investigated, independently reviewed, and transparently resolved.
But reality tells a very different story.
A concession once made becomes a precedent
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has announced at least 52 investigations into separate incidents.
According to the London-based charity Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a staggering 88 percent of these cases remain unresolved or were quietly closed. Only one case resulted in a prison sentence.
These 52 cases involve separate attacks by the Israeli military that reportedly killed at least 1,300 people, injured around 1,880, and involved two cases of torture.
Of the 52 allegations of war crimes, only six cases (12 percent) resulted in any admission of error. One led to a legal sanction in the form of a prison sentence.
This pattern is not new.
Israel has a long history of investigating itself, dating back to at least the 1956 Kafr Qasim massacre, when Israeli border police killed 49 Palestinian civilians for violating a curfew they had not been informed about.
Some officers were convicted, but sentences were quickly reduced and the perpetrators released within a few years.
More recent wars, including the 2008–2009 Gaza war and the 2014 assault on the besieged enclave, have followed a similar pattern: mass civilian casualties, international condemnation, internal investigations that drag on or collapse, and minimal accountability.
The latest example came on August 25, when an airstrike on Nasser Hospital killed at least 20 people, including five journalists working for Reuters, the Associated Press, and Al Jazeera.
Netanyahu described the attack as a “tragic mishap,” echoing a familiar pattern of sterile language in response to civilian deaths.
But, how exactly does Israel investigate itself?
FFA: Israel’s whitewashing mechanism
Israel’s primary investigative body for alleged war crimes is the General Staff Mechanism for Fact-Finding Assessments (FFA Mechanism).
According to data from Yesh Din, the FFA has consistently served to shield rather than expose wrongdoing.
Its stated purpose is to collect initial information on incidents where civilians may have been harmed and determine whether a full criminal investigation is warranted. In practice, the FFA is run by officers within the military chain of command, not by independent civilians.
Testimonies are rarely taken from Palestinian victims or eyewitnesses; the system relies almost exclusively on operational reports filed by soldiers themselves.
Investigations are often delayed for months or years, and many cases are quietly closed without meaningful review.
Human rights groups describe the FFA as a “whitewashing mechanism”: a way for Israel to appear transparent while effectively guaranteeing impunity.
AOAV reports that of at least 664 complaints submitted during previous Gaza conflicts, 542 (over 80 percent) were closed without a criminal investigation. Only 19 cases progressed to a formal investigation, and just one led to an indictment — a prosecution rate of a mere 0.17 percent.
According to Yesh Din, the FFA functions less as a tool for accountability and more as a legal shield: delays are systemic, high-ranking officials are untouchable, and broader military policy — including rules of engagement — is never reviewed. AOAV notes that accountability is served so infrequently that the system appears designed to protect the institution rather than deliver justice.
“We were struck by how the internal investigation process was — perhaps purposefully — opaque. And there was a lurking suspicion that the outcomes of any investigation may have been designed to protect institutional legitimacy rather than deliver justice,” AOAV wrote in their report.
“Overall, then, it appears that Israel’s system of self-investigation for military crimes is little more than political theatre,” the report adds. “These figures show a system that overwhelmingly shields its forces from accountability, even in the most serious, public cases,” wrote AOAV researchers Iain Overton and Lucas Tsantzouris.
Spinning cycle
Among the cases still under review are some of the most widely condemned incidents of the current conflict:
January 2024: Killing of 6-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza City. She was reportedly hit during Israeli airstrikes targeting nearby militant positions, highlighting the risks to children in densely populated areas.
February 2024: Killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City. The victims were civilians waiting at a UN-distributed food site when Israeli artillery struck, raising questions about targeting and proportionality.
April 2024: Killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers — citizens of Australia, the UK, Poland, and Palestine — delivering food aid in clearly marked vehicles whose coordinates had been shared with Israeli forces in advance.
The IDF later called the World Central Kitchen strike “a grave mistake,” dismissed two officers, and reprimanded others, but no criminal charges were brought.
May 2024: A strike on a tent camp in Rafah that killed 45 civilians. Many of the victims were women and children, and the camp was not associated with any known militant activity, prompting scrutiny over the rules of engagement.
September 2024: Killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old dual US-Turkish citizen and activist, during a peaceful protest against illegal Israeli settlements near Beita in the occupied West Bank. A preliminary Israeli investigation concluded that Eygi was "highly likely" hit indirectly and unintentionally by Israeli fire. Despite pressures from the US and Türkiye, the case is still not finalised.
Israel’s internal investigations, according to AOAV and Yesh Din, “fall far short of international standards for independent, transparent inquiries into alleged war crimes.”
By manufacturing the appearance of justice while ensuring impunity, Israel can resist external legal scrutiny while victims are left without accountability.
With hundreds of unresolved cases, a prosecution rate near zero, and high-profile massacres left unpunished, Israel’s cycle of impunity continues to spin.
