The Biden administration said Israel’s use of US-supplied weapons may have violated international humanitarian law during its military operation in Gaza, in its strongest criticism to date of Israel.
The findings risk further souring ties with Israel at a time when the allies are increasingly at odds over Israel’s plans to strike Rafah, a move Washington has repeatedly warned against. The Israeli army has ordered tens of thousands of people to evacuate Rafah as it conducts a ground operation there.“Given Israel’s significant reliance on US-made defence articles, it is reasonable to assess that defence articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm,” the State Department said in the report.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s seven-month-old assault on the Gaza Strip, say health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave. The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1200 people and abducting“Excessive” civilian harm Rights group Amnesty International in late April said US-supplied weapons provided to Israel had been used in “serious violations” of international humanitarian and human rights law, detailing specific cases of civilian deaths and injuries and examples of use of unlawful lethal force.
According to the report released Friday, in the period after October 7 Israel “did not fully cooperate” with US and other international efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. But it said this did not amount to a breach of a US law that blocks the provision of arms to countries that restrict US humanitarian aid.