The State Prosecution has agreed to establish an independent commission to probe the death of 14 civilians during the targeted assassination of Salah Shehadeh in June 2002, Channel 10 reported Monday evening.
An IDF Apache helicopter.
Photo: IDF
Shehadeh was Hamas's military leader in the Gaza Strip at the time. A one-ton bomb dropped by an Israeli aircraft on a Gaza City neighborhood killed Shehadeh and 14 civilians who were in the area.
The State Prosecution informed the High Court of Justice of its decision to launch the investigation during a hearing on a petition submitted by the extreme left-wing group Yesh Gvul.
In December 2006 the High Court issued a precedent-setting ruling that allowed targeted killings as a method to combat terrorism, but also emphasized the state's responsibility to investigate IDF decisions in cases of collateral damage - when civilians are unintentionally killed in an attack along with the designated "target."
