Israel’s brief Gaza Strip war this autumn barely got underway before a ceasefire was negotiated, but Israeli troops still killed enormous numbers of people for such a short operation.

The Israeli military is reporting today that a “comprehensive inquiry” is underway into the circumstances under which Israeli troops killed 70 “non-combatant civilians,” saying the probe proved Israel’s “honest attempt to avoid civilian casualties.”

Maj. Gen. Danny Efroni, Israel’s Military Advocate General, insisted that the probe was underway even though there were “no complaints” and that the military maintains they weren’t legally obligated to probe the killings of the civilians, and were just doing so voluntarily.

It is particularly noteworthy that Maj. Gen. Efroni confirmed 70 killings were being probed, as Israel has repeatedly denied that many deaths, insisting only 57 civilians were killed, and that everybody else, including slain journalists, were “terrorists.”

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