The administration of US President Joe Biden said on Friday that Israel's use of US-supplied weapons may have violated international humanitarian law during the military operation in Gaza. However, the White House does not yet have complete information to confirm specific cases, writes UNN citing Voice of America.
Details
The White House said Friday that it had reason to believe Israel had used U.S.-supplied weapons in situations where it was "inconsistent" with its obligations under international humanitarian law. However, the Biden administration continues to find Israel's assurances that it will use U.S. weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law credible and reliable.
The White House explains that because of the ongoing war in Gaza, there is no way to verify specific instances where Israel may have violated international law, and therefore - it is impossible to make a definitive assessment on this issue.
Under National Security Memorandum-20 (NSM-20), released by President Biden on February 8, the State Department was required to report to the U.S. Congress on how Israel uses U.S. weapons and whether the fighting in Gaza violates U.S. or international law.
An ad hoc working group of independent experts prepared a report for the U.S. State Department's report to the U.S. Congress on the application of the NSM-20 memorandum to Israel. The 76-page report was delivered by the working group to the White House on April 18 and released on April 24.
"Israel did not provide complete information to enable verification of whether U.S. defense articles covered by the (memorandum) were used in actions alleged to violate international humanitarian or human rights law in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem during the reporting period," the State Department report to the U.S. Congress said.
"Nevertheless, given Israel's heavy reliance on U.S.-made defense articles, there is reason to believe that the defense articles covered by the (memorandum) have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances that are not consistent with its obligations under international humanitarian law or best practices for mitigating harm to civilians," the document said.
The submitted report has already been criticized by congressmen, both Democrats and Republicans.
Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen told reporters Friday that the Biden administration has "ducked all the tough questions" and has not scrutinized whether military aid should be cut off because of Israel's behavior.
Ohio Republican Senator Jim Risch, a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a statementstating that "in the short term, NSM-20 is aimed directly at Israel, but additional highly politicized reporting requirements will eventually target other U.S. allies and partners around the world, further hampering security assistance and undermining U.S. ability to contain China and Russia.
Supplement
The actions of the Israeli military, the publication notes, are coming under increasing scrutiny as, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip health department, 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza have fallen victim to Israel's military operation in response to a Hamas attack in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 252 people were taken hostage. Human rights organization Amnesty International said in a report, also released in late April, that the weapons supplied to Israel were used in "serious violations" of international humanitarian and human rights law. The organization detailed specific cases of civilians killed or injured and the unlawful use of lethal force.