Israel’s use of US-supplied arms in Gaza ‘may have contravened international law’
The Biden administration has said Israel’s use of US-supplied weapons may have violated international humanitarian law (IHL) during its military operation in Gaza, a major step up in criticism of its key ally.
But the administration also said that because of the chaos of the war in Gaza, it could not verify specific instances where use of those weapons might have violated international law, falling short of making a definitive assessment on the issue.
Because of that, Washington ruled it still found credible Israel’s assurances it would use US weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law.
The seemingly contradictory assessment came in a US State Department report to Congress, required under a new National Security Memorandum (NSM) that President Joe Biden issued in February.
“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 forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or established best practices for mitigating civilian harm,” the State Department said in its report.
“Israel has not shared complete information to verify whether US defence articles covered under NSM-20 were specifically used in actions that have been alleged as violations of IHL or IHRL [international human rights law] in Gaza, or in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the period of the report,” it said.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said the administration had “ducked all the hard questions” and avoided looking closely at whether Israel’s conduct should mean military aid was cut.
“This report contradicts itself because it concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe violations to international law have occurred, but at the same time that says they’re not finding non-compliance,” he said.
More than 34,000 Palestinians had been killed in Israel’s seven-month-old assault on the Gaza Strip, health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave said.
The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military conduct has come under increasing scrutiny with the soaring death toll and the level of devastation in the Gaza Strip.
State Department officials have been divided over the issue. Reuters reported late last month that figures in at least four bureaus inside the agency had raised concerns over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, laying out specific examples where the country might have been in breach of the law.
Rights group Amnesty International in an April report said US 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.
The United States government reviewed numerous analyses that raised questions about Israel’s compliance with its legal obligations and best practices for mitigating harm to civilians, the report said.
Those included Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure, strikes in densely populated areas and others that called into question whether “expected civilian harm may have been excessive relative to the … military objective”.