Hundreds of IDF investigations into killings still have no public outcome, BBC Verify finds
BBC Verify has identified 254 incidents from the past three years the Israeli military said it is reviewing after being accused of harm.
Key points
- BBC Verify found 254 incidents where the IDF said it was investigating alleged killings but has published no outcome.
- Only 28 of 300 cases the military said it was looking into had outcomes on the IDF website.
- Of the 254 unresolved incidents, 158 occurred in Gaza, 48 in the West Bank and 32 in Lebanon.
BBC Verify has identified 254 incidents in which the Israeli military was accused of killing or injuring people in Gaza, Lebanon, the occupied West Bank and Israel, and said it was investigating, but has published no outcome. The findings cover incidents between 7 October 2023 and 19 August 2026.
Using AI tools to comb through more than 60,000 news reports and manually checking each case, BBC Verify found 300 incidents the Israel Defense Forces said it was looking into. Only 28 had outcomes published on the IDF website, and for 18 more it was unclear whether the investigation had concluded.
Where the incidents occurred
Of the 254 incidents without public outcomes, 158 took place in Gaza, 48 in the West Bank and 32 in Lebanon. A further 16 occurred in Israel or in IDF detention. At least one person was reportedly killed in more than 200 of the cases.
Some date back to late 2023. One of the deadliest was an August 2024 strike on a school building in Gaza in which at least 93 people were reportedly killed, including six women and 11 children. The IDF said that incident remains under review.
They try to stretch out these processes to the point where people forget and people don't care about them
— Dan Owen, researcher at Yesh Din
What the IDF said
The IDF said it treats every allegation of conduct inconsistent with the law or its directives with the utmost seriousness. It said it publishes investigation outcomes when possible, subject to legal, operational, privacy and information security considerations.
The IDF said complex incidents can take considerable time to verify and that it does not shorten procedures to meet external timelines. It also said it has taken disciplinary action against soldiers in dozens of cases during the war.
