IDF addresses over 150 probes in first war crimes report since Israel-Hamas War began

The IDF's Military Advocate-General's Corps on Wednesday issued its first landmark war crimes report since October 7 regarding over 150 probes, addressing the World Central Kitchen (WCK) saga, the Islamic Red Crescent saga, and three other major cases.

The investigations of IDF Military Advocate-General Maj.-Gen. Itay Offir and his staff into five major cases resulted in the opening of two criminal probes, two disciplinary probes, and the closure of one of the cases.

The Jerusalem Post understands that, over time, additional update reports will be issued, but this is the first step after heavy global criticism of Israel and the IDF for not issuing final reports until now, despite grave cases against them in international judicial bodies.

Further, the update that 150 cases are under criminal investigation is a significant jump from the around 100 number told to the Post on June 18.

Investigating the World Central Kitchen incident

In the WCK saga, on April 1, 2024, the IDF accidentally and mistakenly killed seven international food aid workers.

According to the report, the WCK hired armed security guards without coordinating that specific issue with the IDF.

The IDF probe admits that its surveillance officials misidentified these WCK security officials as Hamas and then also misidentified other WCK officials afterward, who were unarmed and entered the WCK vehicles at a midpoint in their travel, as armed.

This detail has massive importance, as previously several of the most senior IDF officials told the Post and other reporters that one of the main justifications for the attack was that there was at least one Hamas fighter involved, along with other officials who were mistaken for Hamas officials.

Next, the report criticizes the WCK for being unreachable for 30 minutes when the IDF tried to call to clarify the situation.

Ultimately, the IDF decided to uphold the prior decision of then-IDF chief Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi that while tragic, the errors should lead to disciplinary measures, but were not a crime.

Regarding the WCK incident, a fascinating twist is that Offir himself did not make the decision, which the Post first reported exclusively on June 18.

In prior roles as the Defense Ministry legal adviser, Offir apparently worked closely with IDF Col. Nochi Mendel, one of the key commander-suspects, on several projects.

Although this does not necessarily violate the "conflict of interest" definition to technically disqualify him from rendering a decision the way it would if the two were family members, Offir did not feel like he could objectively judge Mendel, or at least wanted to remove even any perception of favoritism.

For that reason, IDF Chief Prosecutor Col. Eli Levertov issued the decision regarding WCK.

Levertov became IDF chief prosecutor in August 2025, only around two months before Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi's resignation as the IDF MAG prior to Offir.

The killing of Hind Rajab

Regarding the second file, the killing of nine members of the Hamda family, including the famous Palestinian child Hind Rajab in Gaza City on January 29, 2024, Offir decided that the IDF officials involved in coordinating the arrival of an ambulance to save Rajab after the initial attack were, at a minimum, grossly negligent.

On that basis, he has ordered that the probe be continued as a full criminal probe.

Rajab became famous worldwide because she called outside officials for help, and recordings show her surviving an initial strike on her family.

However, the later strikes either killed her or killed the rescuers who were sent to save her, until she died of her initial wounds.

The Post has learned that while the entire incident will be probed, the most serious part of the investigation will be the second strike on the rescuers sent to save Rajab.

This means that the IDF officials most in potential trouble would not be those who fired on the rescuers, but the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) officials who sent a Google Maps document to the rescuers telling them that if they took the specific designated path, they would be safe.

The IDF MAG Corps alleges that COGAT did not send this information to the IDF officials on the ground, which likely led to the mistaken killing.

Such negligence could rise to such a high and deadly level as to be potentially criminal, even if unintentional.

At the same time, the Post understands that none of the COGAT officials involved have been criminally investigated to date, such that their defense lawyers may be able to claim that they do not remember the details in order to try to avoid prosecution or conviction.

While Offir has only been in office since November 2025, the probe of this case was dragged out for an extensive period of time by Tomer-Yerushalmi.

The Post has not succeeded to date in getting responses on such issues from Tomer-Yerushalmi since her resignation.

Investigating an incident surrounding the Islamic Red Crescent

On March 23, 2025, the IDF mistakenly killed 15 Palestinians connected to the fire department, ambulances, and the UN (the paramedics case) in Tel Sultan in Rafah who were on their way to rescue various Palestinians.

According to Offir, there were three separate incidents in which the IDF successively fired on different cars of rescuers as part of an ambush which they thought they were springing on Hamas an hour after a Hamas car had passed through their ambush area.

Although the IDF has connected six out of the 15 rescuers to Hamas after the fact, the MAG ordered a criminal probe to continue, in addition to censuring the commander of the IDF's 14th Brigade (a Colonel rank) and firing the deputy commander of the IDF Golani Brigade's Reconnaissance Battalion (a Major rank).

The Post has learned that the most serious part of this incident was the third attack, in which time had passed, and various indicators could have made the attacking forces avoid an additional ambush in the area.

However, those involved in the attack will not be fired or suspended per se just because they are being criminally investigated at this stage, though some may already have been released from service.

Further, in April 2025, the IDF admitted that in the paramedics incident in southern Gaza it mistakenly killed 15 International Red Crescent medics and wounded another when it misidentified them as Hamas terrorists despite the fact that they were unarmed and driving in ambulances, leading to the firing of the deputy Golani Brigade commander (a Major rank), and the censuring of a brigade commander (a Colonel rank).

In April 2025, the IDF issued interim findings on a variety of incidents at the time, collected by the General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, headed by Maj.-Gen. (Res.) Yoav Har-Even, which have been presented to the IDF Chief Staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, and to representatives of the UN.

The IDF said at the time that it "regrets this serious incident and continues to conduct thorough review processes to draw operational lessons and evaluate additional measures to prevent such events in the future."

"We express our deep sorrow for the loss and send our condolences to the family. As part of the IDF’s commitment to transparency and dialogue with international entities, the IDF has shared the findings gathered thus far with the UN. The IDF places great importance on continued engagement with international organizations, as part of efforts to enhance coordination, apply lessons learned, and prevent similar incidents from recurring in the future," said the military.

Two incidents involving Doctors Without Borders

There were also two decisions regarding two separate incidents in which the IDF mistakenly killed two different pairs of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) officials.

The first was an incident on February 20, 2024, in Khan Yunis in which the clarity of the identity of the two MSF officials was hazy, with the military believing them to be Hamas officials.

Accordingly, Offir ordered disciplinary measures against the IDF officials involved in the attack, but not a criminal probe.

The second incident was on November 18, 2023, when the IDF mistakenly killed two other MSF officials in Gaza City.

Offir decided that since the tragic deaths were not from direct fire, but from indirect fire, the case would be closed completely without criminal or disciplinary consequences.

IDF legal sources acknowledged that the decisions took too long, but that this was a time to at least issue as many decisions as possible after the longest and most complex war in Israel's history, which in many ways still has not ended.

Further, they said that a hard decision against IDF soldiers is critical to defend Israel against the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, as well as to preserve receiving military weapons overseas from the US and other allies.