Spain to proceed with probe of Israeli officials

The Spanish investigation against several senior Israeli officials and officers will continue, despite documents that Israel submitted last month, the Spanish daily El Pais reported.

The judge who ordered the probe, Fernando Andreu, reviewed a summary of the 400 pages of documentation, and then ordered that the proceedings continue, El Pais reported.

The investigation is examining whether then-defense minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer and other senior officials committed a war crime in assassinating Hamas strongman Salah Shahadeh in 2002. Fourteen Palestinian civilians were killed alongside Shahadeh when an Israel Air Force plane dropped a one-ton bomb on his Gaza home. The casualties included Shehadeh's wife and nine of his children.

Judge Andreu said he received a lawsuit from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in late January, asking him to investigate the alleged war crime under Spain's universal jurisdiction principle. He said he had been waiting for an Israeli response since August 2008.

Shortly afterward, Israel submitted the documents. The judge is yet to see the official, complete translation, yet decided to continue with the trial anyway.