Israel charges 8 soldiers with Gaza war crimes

Israel's military, under heavy international pressure, has indicted eight soldiers on charges connected to the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in 2009. The Israeli military's chief prosecutor, Maj. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit, has decided to indict eight soldiers, including those alleged to have killed two Palestinian women and ordered an air strike near a mosque. The indictments were submitted amid an investigation of 150 allegations of Israeli crimes during the 23-day war against Hamas in December 2008 and January 2009. "More than 150 incidents have been examined and nearly 50 investigations have been launched by the Military Police Criminal Investigations Division since the operation's conclusion," the military said on July 6. One unidentified officer was indicted on charges of ordering an air strike on a Hamas rocket launcher and crew outside a Gaza City mosque. Several people in the mosque were said to have been injured by shrapnel from the Israeli air-to-ground missile.