by James Hider in Jerusalem
Israeli military personnel will get full legal backing if war crimes charges are brought against them after the campaign in Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister has said.
An estimated 1,300 Palestinians died during the three-week battle. Doctors in Gaza claim that 700 of them were civilians and that many were children.
Israel is facing increasing calls at home and abroad to hold independent investigations into allegations that its troops fired into civilian areas and at people carrying white flags, refused to treat wounded Palestinians or allow their evacuation, and killed medics trying to treat the injured.
The army has opened its own inquiry into whether white phosphorus shells were used illegally against built-up civilian areas.
"The commanders and soldiers sent to Gaza should know they are safe from various tribunals and Israel will assist them on this front and defend them, just as they protected us with their bodies during the Gaza operation," Ehud Olmert said during a cabinet meeting yesterday.
