JERUSALEM — The Israeli military indicted a soldier Tuesday on a charge of manslaughter during last year’s war in the Gaza Strip – the most serious criminal charge to come out of an internal investigation into the devastating offensive in the Hamas-ruled territory.
The soldier was among three troops, including a field commander, to face new disciplinary action stemming from their conduct during the offensive, which has drawn international condemnation for its civilian death toll.
The steps against the soldiers were linked to four specific incidents during the offensive, which Israel launched to halt years of rocket fire from Gaza.
Around 1,400 Gazans, many of them civilians, were killed in three weeks of fierce urban fighting and aerial bombardments. Thirteen Israelis were killed. A report commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians, a charge Israel rejects.
The military said Tuesday that its chief prosecutor would indict an infantry sergeant for manslaughter over an incident in which a Palestinian mother and daughter were killed while reportedly holding white flags.
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