Israel’s use of weapons may have violated international law, says US
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Israel's military conduct has come under increasing scrutiny with the soaring death toll and the level of devastation in the Gaza Strip.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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WASHINGTON - The Biden administration said Israel’s use of US-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza may have violated international humanitarian law, as Israel called on May 11 for Palestinians in more areas in Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area
But the administration stopped short of a definitive assessment, saying on May 10 that due to the chaos of the war in Gaza, it could not verify specific instances where use of those weapons might have been involved in alleged breaches.
The assessment came in a 46-page unclassified State Department report to Congress required under a new National Security Memorandum (NSM) that President Joe Biden issued in early February.
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 State Department’s report included contradictions: It listed numerous credible reports of civilian harm and said Israel did not at first cooperate with Washington to boost humanitarian assistance to the enclave. But in each instance, it said it could not make a definitive assessment on whether any breaches of law had occurred.
“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 Oct 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL (international humanitarian law) obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm,” the State Department said in the 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. Because of that, the administration ruled that it still finds Israel's assurances on its use of US weapons in its war against Hamas credible.
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 is cut off.
“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 are not finding non-compliance,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, an Israeli military spokesperson, in a post on social media site X, called on residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza and 11 other neighbourhoods in the enclave to go immediately to shelters west of Gaza City.
In Rafah, residents told Reuters the new evacuation orders by the Israeli military covered areas in the centre of the city and left little doubt Israel planned to expand its ground offensive there.
“The situation is very difficult, people are leaving their homes in panic,” said Mr Khaled, 35, a resident of the Shaboura neighbourhood, an area where the new orders to leave have been issued.
The Israeli military said it was continuing precise operational activity against Hamas fighters in eastern Rafah and on the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing.
About 300,000 Gazans have so far moved towards Al-Mawasi, according to Israeli military estimates released on May 11.
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 Oct 7,
Israel’s military conduct has come under increasing scrutiny with the soaring death toll and the level of devastation in the Gaza Strip.
US officials at the State Department have been divided over the issue. Reuters reported in late April that officials in at least four bureaus inside the agency have raised serious concerns over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, laying out specific examples where the country might be in breach of the law.
Rights group Amnesty International in a report also in late April said US-supplied weapons provided to Israel have 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 US government reviewed numerous reports that raise 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 call into question whether “expected civilian harm may have been excessive relative to the reported military objective”.
In the period after Oct 7, the report found, Israel “did not fully cooperate” with the 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.
It said Israel had acted to improve aid delivery since Mr Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call in early April that Washington would withhold some arms supplies if the humanitarian situation did not improve.
The report said individual violations do not necessarily disprove Israel’s commitment to international humanitarian law, as long as it takes steps to investigate and hold violators accountable.
"Israel’s own concern about such incidents is reflected in the fact it has a number of internal investigations under way," the report said. A senior State Department official confirmed that none of those investigations had led to prosecutions yet. REUTERS
