RAMALLAH, Feb 27 (JMCC) - A report submitted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday concluded that the IDF soldiers responsible for killing senior Hamas figure Salah Shehadeh in Gaza along with 13 civilians in 2002 should not be prosecuted with criminal charges.

A committee was appointed by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2008 to investigate the incident, following a High Court appeal by left-wing activist and member of Yesh Gvul, Yoav Hass.

In their appeal, Hass and other Yesh Gvul members insisted that criminal investigations be initiated against then Israel Air Force chief Dan Halutz, then Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon, then Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

In the report culminating the panel's probe submitted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, committee members justified the strike, saying that the preventive strike against Shehadeh was a direct result of the intensification of terrorist group activity since 2000, which had reached war-like proportions.

Read the full story at Haaretz...