Belgium probes Israeli soldier's war crimes after journalist's report

Belgian authorities have said they launched an investigation into possible war crimes committed by a Belgian-Israeli soldier fighting for Israel in occupied Gaza.

The federal prosecutor's office said on Friday the probe focuses on a Belgian member of an elite unit of the Israeli military comprising several other dual passport holders.

"We have opened a file on possible war crimes," a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office told AFP news agency.

The suspect, who has not been named, is said to be a man in his 20s from Brussels' upmarket suburb of Uccle.

'Brutal executions'

The investigation, officially opened on Wednesday, stems from the work of Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi.

Posting on X this month, Tirawi accused an Israeli sniper unit called "Refaim", or "Ghosts" in Hebrew, of "brutal executions of unarmed civilians".

Belgium's Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt said on Thursday the Belgian probe sought to "verify the information published in the press".

"Israel has the right to self-defence, but that does not exempt it from its obligation to respect international humanitarian law," Van Tigchelt told parliament.

He said the federal prosecutor's office would coordinate with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, whose chief prosecutor has sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan also sought warrants against top Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif - but all three have since been killed.

Israel has continued a brutal offensive on besieged Gaza following a cross-border attack by Hamas last October.

More than 42,400 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 99,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of Gaza amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.