A Palestinian in Gaza holds a flag during a demonstration in Rafah against Egyptian efforts to seal the Gaza Strip completely. (Maan Images)

Gazans hoping for a modicum of justice following Israel's indiscriminate military assault on the coastal territory during December 2008 and January 2009 - which left 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead - could be waiting in vain.

The Israeli government has taken the offensive in the propaganda battle and attacked United Nations-appointed Justice Richard Goldstone's report into war crimes committed during the war. The report alleges that Israel was responsible for the lion's share of human rights abuses.

Following international censure and U.N. calls for independent inquiries to be carried out by both the Israeli government and Gaza’s de facto Hamas government, Israel submitted a counter-report to the U.N. last weekend.

Specific incidents during which Goldstone says civilians and civilian infrastructure were deliberately targeted were either justified or denied outright by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

However, two senior Israeli officers were brought before a disciplinary committee after they authorised the use of phosphorous on a U.N. facility sheltering 700 civilians. The IDF, however, refused to divulge what action was taken against the officers.

Israeli human rights organisation B'tselem has sent an urgent letter to Judge Advocate General Maj. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit demanding an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the firing of phosphorous shells at Gaza's U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound in Gaza.

Gaza's UNRWA director John Ging stated that he had put many calls through to IDF officials during the shelling but it continued nevertheless.

"Senior officers were well aware of the danger in continuing the shelling. Despite this knowledge, the army continued to shell the facility, starting fires and causing great damage. The danger to civilians was enormous, and the fact that no lives were lost in the incident is nothing short of a miracle," said Ging.

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