IDF won’t charge soldiers over bloody ‘Black Friday’ in 2014 Gaza war
The Israeli military’s top lawyer closes the case on the events of “Black Friday,” one of the bloodiest battles of the 2014 Gaza war, deciding not to file any criminal charges against those involved in the fighting, the army says.
In the southern Gaza city of Rafah on August 1, 2014, Lt. Hadar Goldin was kidnapped and two other members of his unit were killed in a clash with the Hamas terror group. Troops in the area initiated the so-called Hannibal Protocol, a controversial order giving commanders near unchecked freedom to do anything necessary to prevent the capture of a soldier.
According to IDF figures, 42 armed Palestinian combatants were killed in the fighting in Rafah, along with 72 others, which the military acknowledged were likely civilians.
“The findings of the investigation indicate clearly that IDF troops were acting to prevent the capture of Lt. Hadar Goldin, may his memory be blessed, and to attack terror groups in the area, using attacks on military targets and combatants,” the IDF says in a statement.
Later, the IDF determined that Goldin had been killed and was no longer alive during the battle that was meant to rescue him, but this was not known at the time.
Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Sharon Afek dismisses the claims made by some human rights groups that the soldiers in the field were acting out of a desire to “avenge” Goldin’s capture or death.
The IDF says it found no indication that the approximately 70 civilian deaths were deliberate.
According to the military, Afek’s investigation determined that commanders in the field acted “to prevent injury to uninvolved civilians.”
— Judah Ari Gross
