No charges as Israel closes probe into deadly Gaza beach bombing

The Israeli army said on Thursday that it was dropping proceedings over a July 16 bombing of a Gaza beach where four children died during last summer’s war.

“The... case has been closed following the completion of a criminal investigation,” it said in a statement, adding that two other cases involving Palestinian deaths in the fighting had also been closed, but a criminal investigation had been launched in an attack on a cafe in which nine died.

Cousins Ahed Atef Bakr, aged 10, Zakaria Ahed Bakr, also 10, Mohamed Ramez Bakr, nine, and Ismail Mohamed Bakr, 11, were playing on the beach in Gaza City when they were hit in strikes witnessed by journalists staying at a beachfront hotel.

The incident is among those likely to be presented by the Palestinians to the International Criminal Court as evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes.

But the Israeli military has expressed confidence that its own internal probes will be sufficient to head off action by the Hague-based court.

Thursday night’s statement said the military was also closing the files on the July 21 air raid on a residential tower block in central Gaza City, in which it said 15 people were killed, and a July 29 strike on the southern town of Khan Yunis which took the lives of several members of the same family.