THE Israeli army has decided not to order a disciplinary probe into the killing of 21 Palestinian civilians in November 2006.

The dead men, women and children included at least 13 members of the Athamneh family, among them a one-year-old girl. Another 35 people were injured as 12 155-millimetre heavy artillery shells struck the north Gaza town of Beit Hanoun for several minutes. Israeli rights groups yesterday claimed there was a "culture of impunity" in the Israeli security forces, after the decision was announced.

This week the Israel Defence Forces' (IDF) adjutant-general announced that an extremely rare computer malfunction had caused the shells to strike 500 metres from their intended target, a field that had been used by militants to fire missiles at Israel. There was therefore no reason to charge any soldier with negligence or any other offence, Brigadier-General Avihai Mandelblit decided. The announcement did not consider the gunners' supposed failure to notice their shells going astray.