(Adds rights groups' criticism, paragraphs 5-6) JERUSALEM, March 30 (Reuters) - Israeli military investigators said on Monday that Israeli soldiers were passing on unsubstantiated rumours when they said Israeli troops shot unarmed Palestinian women and children in the Gaza offensive. Judge Advocate-General Avichai Mendelblit said a military police investigation "found crucial components of (the soldiers' descriptions of events) were based on hearsay and were not supported by specific personal knowledge". He said it was unfortunate that the soldiers, who discussed their Gaza experiences in private on Feb. 13 at a military academy session which was later leaked verbatim to the media, had been careless about accuracy. "It will be difficult to evaluate the damage done to the image and morals (of the armed forces) in Israel and the world", his statement said. The allegations first surfaced in the media on March 19. The Israeli human rights groups B'Tselem, Yesh Din, Physicians for Human Rights and others issued a statement saying "the speedy closing of the investigation immediately raises suspicions that (it) was merely the army's attempt to wipe its hands of all blame for illegal activity..." The groups said the allegations should be investigated by a non-partisan body. Army investigators highlighted two specific incidents which were widely reported, rocking the military establishment with accounts of the cold-blooded killing of civilians and allegations of deep contempt for Palestinians in army ranks. In one, they said, a soldier who alleged that a comrade was given orders to shoot an elderly woman had not witnessed such an event and "was only repeating a rumour he had heard". They noted, on the other hand, that a woman who approached troops and was suspected of being a suicide bomber had been fired upon repeatedly to try to stop her advancing at them. Israel says far more Islamist fighters and far fewer Palestinian civilians were killed during the 22-day offensive than were reported in widely used Palestinian figures. The army said 295 civilians were among 1,116 Palestinians killed between Dec. 27 and Jan. 18. Palestinian researchers said the total death toll of 1,417 included 926 civilians. Monday's statement said a second incident examined by investigators concerned allegations by an infantry squad leader. He told the academy discussion group an army sharpshooter had killed a mother and two children simply because they turned the wrong way after troops ordered them out of their house. The military investigator's statement said the soldier had not in fact witnessed such an event. "After checking the claim, it was found that during this incident a force had opened fire in a different direction, towards two suspicious men who were unrelated to the civilians in question." The statement did not establish what link, if any, there was between these two reported shootings, or make clear if a mother and her two children had or had not been shot dead. (Writing by Ori Lewis; editing by Douglas Hamilton and Tim Pearce)
An Israeli border police officer stands in front of Palestinian protesters holding a banner during a demonstration marking Land Day in the West Bank village of Nilin, near Ramallah March 30, ...
