Madrid - Controversy continued in Spain on Friday over a National Court judge's decision to investigate a former Israeli defence minister and six military officers or officials over a 2002 bombing in Gaza Strip as a possible crime against humanity.

Israeli ambassador Rafael Schutz warned about a possible deterioration of diplomatic relations between Spain and Israel, while a far-left party warned the government against trying to intervene against the judicial probe.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega stressed the independence of the judiciary, saying Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos had informed his counterpart Tzipi Livni about that.

The Spanish government was sure that Israel "understood," Vega said.

Judge Fernando Andreu said Thursday he might charge former Israeli defence minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and six others with a crime against humanity.

Andreu will investigate a 2002 bombing in Gaza that killed Hamas leader Salah Shehade and 14 other people, including several children.

Schutz said the Palestinian human rights group that had lodged a complaint at the National Court did so out of political reasons to delegitimize Israel's right to exist.

Israel had handed over judicial documentation on Shehade's death to the National Court, the ambassador explained, expressing hope that would help to avoid a deterioration of diplomatic relations between Spain and Israel.

Schutz said Israel respected the independence of the Spanish judiciary, but urged the Spanish authorities to think about how to "avoid political abuses of the system, which is what we are seeing now."

Ben-Eliezer on Thursday described the Spanish court investigation as "ludicrous," while Defence Minister Ehud Barak said anyone calling the killing of a terrorist a crime against humanity lived in an "upside-down world."

Moratinos stressed the independence of the judiciary, but said the government would try to minimize the impact of Andreu's probe on bilateral relations and to seek a "satisfactory solution."

Gaspar Llamazares of the far-left party Izquierda Unida urged the government not to intervene, saying Andreu's probe could dissuade Israel from committing similar acts in the future. (dpa)