The Biden administration stated on Friday that it is “reasonable to assess” that Israel’s use of American weaponry in Gaza violates international humanitarian law and is “inconsistent,” meaning that Israel’s actions are clearly wrong by international standards.
While acknowledging continuing investigations into potential violations, a report written by the State Department concedes that they do not “have complete information to verify” the use of US weapons in alleged violations of international humanitarian law.
The report notes that it is challenging to evaluate or draw firm conclusions about specific incidents due to the nature of the conflict in Gaza, which involves Hamas’ attempt to conceal itself behind infrastructure and civilian populations in order to expose them to Israeli military action, as well as the dearth of USG personnel stationed there.
“However, it is reasonable to conclude that, since October 7, Israeli security forces have used defence articles covered by NSM-20 in situations that are inconsistent with their IHL obligations or with accepted best practices for mitigating civilian harm, given Israel’s substantial reliance on defence articles manufactured in the United States.”
The research did not come to the conclusion that Israel has blocked humanitarian aid to Gaza in violation of US statutes. It covers the time from the start of hostilities with Hamas on October 7 until late April.
“At this time, we do not believe that the Israeli government is preventing or otherwise restricting the movement or delivery of humanitarian aid from the United States,” the report stated.
The report is very critical of the consequences of Israel’s military activities, even if it finds no evidence of Israel’s breach of the conditions of the memorandum. This criticism is made at a time when tensions between the United States and Israel are already high due to President Joe Biden’s threat to halt military deliveries should Israel launch a major offensive in Rafah. Generally speaking, the US government has abstained from giving Israel military assistance.
Then then, Biden said in a CNN interview that “I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem” if the fighters enter Rafah, even if they haven’t entered yet.
President Biden signed a national security memorandum in February in response to demands from Democratic lawmakers, and on Friday afternoon, the important report was declassified and transmitted to Capitol Hill.
This is the first official US government assessment of Israel’s actions throughout the seven-month war in Gaza with Hamas, which began with the terror group’s devastating strike on October 7 that left over 34,000 people dead and much damage to the coastal area.