Hundreds of IDF investigations into killings without public outcome, BBC Verify finds

BBC Verify has identified 254 incidents in which the Israeli military has been accused of killing or injuring people in Gaza, Lebanon, the occupied West Bank, and Israel that it said it was investigating, but have no public outcome. Using purpose-built AI tools, BBC Verify combed through more than 60,000 news reports and examined hundreds of incidents in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) faced allegations of harm since the start of the Gaza war.

Following extensive manual checking of each incident, we found 300 cases that the military said it was looking into, only 28 of which had outcomes published on the IDF website. For a further 18 incidents, it was unclear if the investigation had been concluded. BBC Verify approached the IDF about each case multiple times but only received information on two incidents, which the IDF said are still under review.

“

"The IDF takes every allegation or report raising concerns about conduct that may be inconsistent with the law or IDF directives with the utmost seriousness," it said in a statement.

Of the 254 incidents identified by BBC Verify:

• 158 occurred in Gaza
• 48 in the West Bank
• 32 in Lebanon
• 16 took place in Israel or in IDF detention

All incidents happened between 7 October 2023 and 19 August 2026, with at least one person reportedly killed in more than 200 of them. Some incidents without public outcomes date back to late 2023. One of the deadliest cases involved a strike on a school building in Gaza in August 2024, when at least 93 people were reportedly killed, including six women and 11 children.

For three years, the Israeli military has often responded to accusations of harm by stating an incident is being investigated in some form, such as being "looked into," "reviewed," "checked," or "examined." Often, that is the last that is heard about a case. A number of incidents have been escalated for criminal investigation by the IDF. Two that came under intense public scrutiny involved the killings of five-year-old Hind Rajab and 15 Palestinian Red Crescent emergency workers who were shot more than 100 times and allegedly targeted at close range.

The results of IDF military investigations are not routinely made public, including those leading to criminal investigations of its soldiers. Some published reports relate to hostages in Gaza who were allegedly killed as a result of Israeli operations. In August, the IDF published a rare report detailing internal probes into five incidents in Gaza, including the killings of Hind Rajab and the 15 Palestinian emergency workers, which it revealed had been escalated to criminal investigations.