BBC Verify finds no public outcomes for 254 IDF incidents
A BBC Verify investigation found no public outcome for 254 incidents where the IDF was accused of causing deaths or injuries, while the IDF says 150 cases have been referred for review.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
An investigation by BBC Verify has found no public outcomes for 254 incidents in which the Israel Defense Forces was accused of killing or injuring people, despite the military saying it would investigate.
The cases span Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Israel. The Israeli military has faced repeated accusations of misconduct since the start of the war in Gaza. It has often said incidents were under review.
BBC Verify built a custom AI model to scan thousands of news articles dating back to the start of the war. The model looked for cases where the IDF said it would investigate or check an incident after being accused of causing deaths or injuries. After removing duplicates and manually checking each one, BBC Verify was left with 254 incidents with no public outcome on the IDF's website. The search was not exhaustive, and more cases may exist.
Israel has carried out extensive military operations in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas-led attacks, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The conflict has spread to Lebanon, and violence continues in the occupied West Bank.
One of the deadliest cases was a strike on the Tabayin school complex. The Hamas-run civil defence agency said at least 93 people were reportedly killed, including six women and 11 children. The IDF said a Hamas command and control centre was embedded in the school building and that its soldiers killed 31 fighters in the incident. The Israeli military told BBC Verify the case was still under review.
In August the IDF published a rare report detailing internal probes into five incidents in Gaza, including the case of Hind Rajab. She was a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed along with several family members and two paramedics who tried to save her when they came under fire by the Israeli military in Gaza in 2024. The IDF said the case had been referred for criminal investigation. That is one of the few incidents whose status is known within the IDF's investigative system.
BBC Verify put its findings to the Israeli military weeks ago and approached it about each case multiple times. It received information on only two incidents. The IDF said it takes every allegation about conduct that may be inconsistent with the law or IDF directives with the utmost seriousness. It said it publishes information about the outcomes of investigations when possible, subject to legal, operational and privacy considerations.
The IDF also said 150 incidents have so far been assessed and referred to the military advocate general for review. It did not tell BBC Verify whether those 150 incidents overlap with the 254 cases found. The IDF added that certain incidents are reviewed by the military command to establish a sequence of events, identify failures and learn lessons.
An international humanitarian lawyer told the investigation that the Geneva Conventions specify that a party to an armed conflict is responsible for investigating its own conduct. The lawyer said the clear bottom line is that it is absolutely the responsibility of a party to an armed conflict to investigate and potentially prosecute its own.
Some of the incidents without a public outcome are nearly three years old. Experts say that where allegations of misconduct can be upheld, the passage of time makes it difficult to get answers.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| BBC Verify counted 254 reported incidents of alleged harm by the IDF across Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Israel. | |
| The IDF published a rare report on internal probes into five incidents in Gaza, including the case of Hind Rajab. | |
| The IDF said it had assessed 150 incidents and referred them to the military advocate general for review, without stating whether they overlapped with the BBC's cases. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
BBC News led with its own BBC Verify investigation into 254 incidents where the IDF was accused of harm and no public outcome was found. It gave detailed space to the methodology, the Tabayin school strike, the Hind Rajab case and the IDF's limited response. The tone was factual and investigative, with legal context from an international humanitarian lawyer.
- “A BBC investigation has found that there has been no public outcomes to hundreds of incidents where the Israeli military has been accused of deaths and injuries even though the Israel Defence Forces said it would investigate.”
- “The IDF said it takes every allegation about conduct that may be inconsistent with the law or IDF directives with the utmost seriousness.”
- “It also says so far 150 incidents have been assessed and referred to the military advocate general call for review.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.