Israeli army investigates deaths of Gaza war detainees

Israel is investigating the deaths of Palestinians captured during the Gaza war as well as a military-run detention camp where a human rights group has alleged abuse of inmates, the armed forces' chief prosecutor said on Monday.

Citing accounts by former inmates and a doctor from the Sde Teiman base, the Physicians for Human Rights group said last month that detainees have suffered severe violence causing fractures, internal bleeding, and even death.

Palestinians have also accused Israeli soldiers of illegal killings during the almost eight-month-old Gaza war.

"To date, 70 military police investigations have been opened into incidents that have raised suspicion of criminal offenses," Major-General Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, the military advocate-general, told a conference hosted by the Israel Bar Association.

"These investigations also address allegations raised about the incarceration conditions at Sde Teiman detention center and the deaths of detainees in Israeli army custody. We are treating these allegations very seriously and are taking action to probe them."

Reuters