A/HRC/40/43 highlighted concerns in terms of the lack of accountability by both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities.6 5. Particularly worrying is the number of cases that, despite serious allegations and prima facie evidence of international law violations, were closed by the Israeli Military Advocate General without any criminal investigation. 7 According to the most recent update of the Military Advocate General, dated 15 August 2018, out of 500 complaints related to 360 incidents referred to him, 8 only 31 were referred for criminal investigation. While one investigation led to the conviction of three soldiers for looting, investigations in 28 cases have been concluded without resulting in criminal charges and 2 cases remain pending. Cases relating to 189 incidents have so far been closed.9 6. The most recent update included information on decisions taken by the Military Advocate General since the previous update, such as the decision not to proceed to a criminal investigation of the events in and around Rafah that took place on 1 August 2014 (so-called Black Friday),10 during which 3 Israeli soldiers and 207 Palestinians, including at least 144 civilians, were killed.11 The Military Advocate General further decided not to take action following preliminary examinations relating to seven other cases involving the deaths of 79 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and damage to a hospital and several residential structures. He also provides information on the decision to close one case involving civilian deaths following a preliminary investigation by the military police, as well as to close eight cases pertaining to the killing of over 50 Palestinians, mostly civilians, following criminal investigations. 7. Concerning events that took place in and around Rafah on 1 August 2014, the Military Advocate General concluded that 114 Palestinians had been killed during the fighting, including at least 42 “military operatives”. He acknowledged that Palestinian civilians might have been incidentally killed during the fighting, but concluded that none had directly been targeted. According to the Military Advocate General, the majority of civilians had been killed as a result of targeted aerial strikes aimed at military targets. In cases related to ground operations, he referred to the low number of civilian casualties to demonstrate respect for the principle of proportionality. In a few cases, he recognized that the civilian presence in the targeted area had been larger than expected by Israeli security forces following an initial assessment, but concluded that that had not affected the proportionality assessment, nor the legality of the use of force. He noted that precautionary measures had been taken whenever appropriate, underlining in a number of cases that warnings to the civilian population had not been possible as they would have undermined the objective of the operation at stake. For all cases examined in the update, he concluded that there had been no grounds for reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct that would warrant the opening of a criminal investigation. Similar conclusions were reached in other cases, for example regarding two attacks that had occurred on 29 July 2014 that had respectively resulted in the deaths of 35 civilians in Khan Yunis and of 19 persons, of whom a significant majority were civilians, in Bureij camp. 8. The information provided by the Military Advocate General in the most recent update, as in previous ones, is insufficient to support the conclusion that the principles of 6 7 8 9 10 11 A/HRC/37/41, paras. 9–17, A/HRC/34/38, para. 42, and A/71/364, paras. 40 and 51–55. See Israel Defense Forces, “Decisions of the IDF Military Advocate General regarding exceptional incidents that allegedly occurred during Operation ‘Protective Edge’ – update No. 6”, available from www.idf.il/en/minisites/wars-and-operations/operation-protective-edge-legal-updates/). See also A/HRC/37/41, para. 14, A/HRC/35/19, para. 18, and A/71/364, para. 40. According to the Military Advocate General, “such incidents include events allegedly resulting in significant and unanticipated civilian harm and events where military activity allegedly resulted in damage to medical or UN facilities” (see www.idf.il/en/minisites/wars-and-operations/mag-corpspress-release-initial-release-sept-2014/). See Israel Defense Forces, “Decisions of the IDF Military Advocate General”. Events on 1 August 2014 involved aerial attacks and a ground operation by Israeli security forces following the killing of two of its soldiers and the kidnapping of another one, who was later pronounced dead. See www.btselem.org/press_releases/20160720_fatalities_in_gaza_conflict_2014. 3