Consent and Advise
Prior to the Gaza operation, IDF officers were receiving legal advice that allowed for large numbers of civilian casualties and the targeting of government buildings. Some legal experts, among them the former head of the army's international law division, maintain that the IDF harnessed the law in the service of the war effort.
On the first day of Operation Cast Lead, the air force bombed the graduation ceremony of a police course, killing dozens of policemen. Months earlier, an operational and legal controversy was already swirling around the planned attack. According to a military source who was involved in the planning, bombing the site of the ceremony was authorized with no difficulty, but questions were raised about the intent to strike at the graduates of the course. Military Intelligence, convinced the attack was justified, pressed for its implementation. Representatives of the international law division (ILD) in the Military Advocate General's Office at first objected, fearing a possible violation of international law.