A/HRC/35/19/Add.1 indicating that “while there may be limitations on publishing certain types of information, a minimum level of transparency is required from the point of view of assisting victims’ quest for the truth and their right to effective remedies.”21 18. With regard to promptness of investigations, in 2011 the Committee of Experts expressed serious concerns and noted that more than a third of the incidents reviewed relating to the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict remained unresolved or with an unclear status. In 2016, the situation had not improved: “Two years after the [2014] escalation of hostilities in Gaza, justice remains elusive. Less than nine per cent of referred incidents of alleged violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including allegations of war crimes, have led to a criminal investigation…” 22 19. As for thoroughness and effectiveness, Israel has outlined challenges in conducting investigations, particularly into acts committed by the IDF in the context of hostilities in Gaza. These include lack of ready access to the scene, destruction of evidence during hostilities, and lack of witness testimonies. According to Israel, “investigations can take significant time and even where an indication of criminal conduct exists, they can still fail to obtain evidence sufficient to warrant prosecution.”23 20. The thoroughness and effectiveness of Israeli investigations of violations against Palestinians have been challenged by Israeli NGOs. Yesh Din found that “in practice soldiers enjoy near absolute impunity for offenses they commit against Palestinian residents of the West Bank.” 24 B’Tselem made similar observations in 2016. The organization reviewed its work vis-à-vis the Military Advocate-General Corps and the Military Police Investigation Unit over the course of 25 years and decided to stop referring complaints to the military due to recurring failure to ensure accountability in cases in which soldiers had harmed Palestinians. 25 The Secretary-General observed that “a consistent failure by the Military Advocate-General… and the Attorney General to open investigations in all cases where prima facie evidence, including eye-witness testimony, medical reports or audiovisual materials indicate that actions by State agents were unlawful. When investigations are opened, they frequently fail to meet human rights standards, and only a small number of alleged perpetrators, mainly at the rank-and-file level, are brought to justice, facing mainly lenient indictments and sentence.”26 21. Based on assessments like the examples provided above, the report concludes that not all necessary measures to ensure accountability for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by Israeli security forces have been taken. On the whole, investigations have failed to meet international standards of independence, transparency, impartiality, thoroughness, promptness, and effectiveness. The analysis shows that investigations have not been opened in all cases of prima facie evidence of wrongdoing, and that redress is not ensured if access to justice by Palestinian victims is hampered. The recommendation is therefore assessed as “not implemented”. 22. In his 2013 report on Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, the SecretaryGeneral recommended to the Gaza authorities and Palestinian armed groups that “Accountability must be ensured for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, in particular the killing of civilians, the indiscriminate firing of rockets towards Israel and summary executions, committed by the de facto authorities and armed groups in Gaza. Investigations must be independent, transparent, impartial, thorough, prompt, and effective. Redress for victims must be ensured.” 27 21 A/HRC/29/CRP.4, para. 217. A/HRC/34/36, para. 45. 23 See http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/IsraelGaza2014/Pages/2014-Gaza-Conflict-Factual-andLegal-Aspects.aspx, para. 59. 24 Yesh Din, Investigation Policy, 11 April 2016 25 See “The Occupation’s Fig Leaf: Israel’s Military Law Enforcement System as a Whitewash Mechanism, www.btselem.org/download/201605_occupations_fig_leaf_eng.pdf 26 A/68/502 para. 40. 27 A/68/502 para. 52. 22 7