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

The federal prosecutor’s office said 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.

Belgium’s Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt said 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.