A U.S. State Department report said Friday it was"reasonable to assess" that Israel has violated international humanitarian law while carrying out military operations in Gaza. But the report stopped short of drawing any final or sweeping conclusions about Israeli conduct in the war against Hamas.
On the first question, the report said:"It is reasonable to assess that defense articles ... have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm." On the question of humanitarian aid for Gaza, the report stated that Israel initially did not cooperate with the U.S. and international aid groups to let in humanitarian aid and thus"contributed significantly" to the lack of aid to the Palestinian people."We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance," it said.
The U.S. has been sending large quantities of weapons to Israel for decades, and ramped up deliveries after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that ignited the war. The U.S. says it has been demanding, but has not seen, a credible Israeli plan to move civilians out of harm's way in Rafah. The city had around 200,000 residents before the war began, but now has more than 1 million, many living in tent camps.
The report, she said,"could make it harder for him to defend the unconditional assistance approach," Harrison said. But she emphasized the report does not require a change in his policy."It's up to the president. It's still discretionary."
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