Building damaged in fighting in Shejaiya (file)
Building damaged in fighting in Shejaiya (file)Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90

An Israeli officer who ordered the shelling of a building during the 2014 Gaza war in "honor" of a dead soldier will not face trial and has been reprimanded instead, the army said Wednesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Neriya Yashuron had been under investigation by the military for ordering the shelling in the war, with a clinic reportedly targeted in the hard-hit Shejaiya neighborhood, where Hamas and other Islamist terror groups had dug in among the civilian population.

Israeli media reported that Yashuron had told a military publication that he regretted that his troops could not be at the dead soldier's funeral and decided to fire shells toward where he was killed.

The army said in a statement its investigation found that the shelling resulted in no casualties, but that the order "sent a dangerous message that a gun salute or an act of revenge are legitimate actions."

It called the order "inappropriate and potentially blurring the lines between right and wrong, especially during combat."

It said Yashuron, who commanded an armored battalion during Operation Protective Edge, is to be "officially reprimanded," with the case to be taken into consideration for future assignments and promotions.

Leftist NGOs such as the foreign-funded Breaking the Silence had been pushing for Yashuron to be prosecuted.

AFP contributed to this report.