HAIFA, August 14, 2018 (WAFA) – Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel said it appealed to the Israeli attorney general to reopen the file and launch a criminal investigation into a 2014 Israeli drone attack that killed four Palestinian children playing on the Gaza beach.

The Intercept reported on Saturday that a confidential report by Israeli military police investigators explains how two separate drone strikes on July 16, 2014 killed  four Palestinian children of the Bakr family - Ahed, 10, Zakaria, 10, Mohammed, 11, and Ismail, 10, - while playing on a beach in Gaza.

Adalah General Director Hassan Jabareen demanded in a statement on Monday reopening of the file of the attack and a launch of a criminal investigation into the incident.

“Adalah appealed to the Israeli attorney general to open a criminal investigation and to reject the closure of the military’s probe as the testimonies of the Israeli soldiers involved in this deadly attack clearly show criminal reckless disregard for human life,” said Jabareen. “We demanded that the Israeli attorney general reopen the file and launch a criminal investigation based on both Israeli criminal code and international humanitarian law.”

Adalah has appealed for an investigation into the attack in August 2015 but the attorney general has still not responded to the appeal, which it said “is very problematic as it shows that the Israeli internal investigation mechanism cannot provide an effective remedy for the victims.”

The Intercept said testimony from the officers involved in the attack, which has been concealed from the public until now, raises new questions about whether the attack was carried out with “reckless disregard for civilian life.”

M.K.