The Biden administration believes Israel likely violated international standards by failing to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip, but has not found any specific examples that would justify withholding military aid, the State Department said. told Parliament on Friday.
In the administration's most detailed assessment of Israel's actions in Gaza, the State Department said in a written report that Israel “is committed to implementing best practices to reduce harm to civilians in military operations.” “We have the knowledge, we have the experience, we have the tools.”
However, it added that “the results on the ground, including the high number of civilian casualties, cast serious doubts” on whether the IDF is making full use of these tools.
Still, the report appeared contradictory in places and said the United States had no hard evidence of violations by Israel. The report examines the difficulty of gathering reliable intelligence from Gaza, the tactics of Hamas operating in civilian areas, and whether U.S. weapons were used in specific incidents that allegedly involved violations of human rights laws. He pointed to the fact that “Israel has not shared complete information to verify it.”
The report, directed by President Biden, distinguishes between the general possibility that Israel violated the law and its conclusions about specific incidents that prove it. The government deemed the assurances Israel provided in March that it would use U.S. weapons in accordance with international law to be “credible and reliable,” thus allowing the continuation of U.S. military aid. ing.
This conclusion is unrelated to Biden's recent decision to delay the delivery of 3,500 bombs to Israel and his review of other arms shipments. The president said these actions were in response to Israel's announced plans to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The report said findings were hampered by challenges in gathering reliable intelligence from combat zones and the way Hamas operates in densely populated areas. He also emphasized that Israel has begun to seek accountability for alleged violations of the law. Violations of the law are a key factor in the United States' assessment of whether to provide military aid to allies accused of human rights abuses.
Israel has launched a criminal investigation into military actions in Gaza, the report says, and the IDF is “investigating hundreds of incidents” that may have involved wartime misconduct. .
The report also did not find that Israel intentionally obstructed humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The report concluded that both “Israel's actions and inactions” had slowed the flow of aid to Gaza, which is desperately short of necessities such as food and medicine, but that “Israel's government has prohibited “At this point, we do not assess that there are any other restrictions or other restrictions in place.” Transportation or delivery of “United States Humanitarian Assistance Supplies” into the territory.
Such a finding would trigger U.S. laws prohibiting military aid to countries that block such aid.
Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer now with the International Crisis Group, said the report “bent over backwards” to avoid the conclusion that Israel was breaking any laws, calling the findings said it would put significant new pressure on Biden to limit arms deliveries.
Mr Finucane, who is critical of Israel's military operations, said the report was more “immediate” than he expected, but still felt “watered down” and quite “legalistic”.
The findings further infuriated Congress' vocal minority Democrats, who have been increasingly critical of Israel's actions in Gaza. They claim that Israel indiscriminately kills civilians with American weapons and deliberately obstructs humanitarian aid provided by the United States.
Either case would violate U.S. law governing arms transfers to foreign militaries, as well as international humanitarian law, primarily under the Geneva Conventions.
The report does not define what is meant by another standard for Israeli action, “establishing best practices to reduce harm to civilians,” but it does not define what is meant by “establishing best practices to reduce harm to civilians,” but the It cited guidelines that included measures “not required by the laws of war.''
“God help us all if this practice complies with international standards,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, told reporters after the report was released. Told. “They don't want to take any action to hold the Netanyahu government accountable for what's going on,” he added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Critics of Mr. Biden's decision to continue most military aid to Israel had expected him to use the report as justification for further restricting arms deliveries to the country. The United States provides $3.8 billion in annual military aid to Israel, and Congress approved an additional $14 billion in emergency funding last month.
Biden ordered the report along with a national security memorandum known as NSM-20. This law requires all recipients of U.S. military assistance engaged in conflicts to provide written assurances that they will comply with international law and not interfere with the provision of humanitarian assistance provided or supported by the U.S. government. required to be provided to the United States.
The report called on the secretaries of state and defense to evaluate “credible reports and allegations” that U.S. weapons may have been used in violation of international law.
Since the presidential memorandum was issued, an independent task force formed in response has released a lengthy report listing dozens of possible violations of the law by Israel. The report reveals Israel's “systematic disregard for fundamental principles of international law,” including “attacks launched despite anticipated disproportionate harm to civilians” in populated areas. did.
In response to the State Department's report, the task force said in a statement that the U.S. document is “at best inadequate and inadequate in defending acts and actions that violate international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.” At worst, it is intentionally misleading.”
“The Biden administration once again faced the facts and then closed the curtain,” said members of the task force, including Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned in October to protest U.S. military aid. Israel.
The State Department report reiterated the Biden administration's past statements that Israel had a “right to self-defense” in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, and showed clear sympathy for Israel's military challenge. He also noted that military experts have called Gaza “as difficult a battle space as any military has faced in modern warfare.”
“Hamas uses civilian infrastructure for military purposes and uses civilians as human shields, so it is important to know the facts on the ground in such an active conflict zone and whether there are legitimate military targets across Gaza. It is often difficult to determine whether
Still, it cited a number of specific incidents in which Israeli forces killed civilians and aid workers, calling the latter “an area of particular concern.”
These episodes include the murder of seven World Central Kitchen employees in April. The report noted that Israel had dismissed the officers involved in the attack and disciplined its commander, calling it a “serious mistake” and saying it was considering prosecution.
Other episodes cited by the magazine include airstrikes on the crowded Jabaliya refugee camp on October 31 and November 1, which reportedly killed dozens of civilians, including children. Died. The report targeted senior Hamas commanders and Hamas underground facilities at the site, noting Israeli claims that the munitions “led to the collapse of the tunnel and the buildings and infrastructure above it.”
The report also did not find that Israel had intentionally obstructed the delivery of humanitarian aid, but cited several instances in which the government had “adversely influenced” the distribution of aid. These included what they called “extensive bureaucratic delays” and active involvement by some Israeli officials in protests and attacks on aid convoys.
The report was submitted to Congress two days after the deadline set in Biden's February memo and arrived late Friday afternoon, a convenient time for government officials hoping to minimize the public impact of their announcements. did. Earlier in the day, White House press secretary John F. Kirby denied there was a “sinister” motive for the delay.
