US officials: Israel violated international law in Gaza and our weapons were used in violation of humanitarian law
Some senior US officials told Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an internal memo seen by Reuters that they didn’t find credible or documented assurances from Israel that it’s using US weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Other officials supported Israel’s claim that it adheres to international law.
Under a national security memorandum issued by President Joe Biden in February, Blinken must submit a report to Congress by May 8 determining whether he has found credible Israeli assurances that its use of US weapons doesn’t violate US or international law.
By March 24, at least seven offices in the US State Department had sent their contributions to an initial options memorandum for Blinken.
Some parts of the memorandum that hadn’t been disclosed before were sealed.
The explanations submitted to the memo provide the most comprehensive picture yet of divisions within the State Department over whether Israel is violating international humanitarian law in Gaza.
A US official said, “Some elements in the ministry preferred to accept Israeli guarantees, others preferred to reject them, and others didn’t take any position”.
A joint presentation from four offices, Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Population, Refugees and Migration, Global Criminal Justice, and International Organization Affairs, raised serious concern about non-compliance with international humanitarian law during Israel’s prosecution of the Gaza war.
The assessment conducted by the four offices said that Israeli assertions weren’t credible and cannot be relied upon.
It cited eight examples of Israeli military actions that officials said raised serious questions about potential violations of international humanitarian law.
These violations included repeated strikes on protected sites and infrastructure as well as unreasonably high levels of civilian harm for military gain, and little action was taken to investigate the violations or hold accountable those responsible for the massive harm to civilians and the killing of civilians, humanitarian and journalists at an unprecedented rate.
The assessment by the four offices also cited 11 instances of Israeli military actions that officials said saw arbitrary restrictions on humanitarian aid, including the rejection of entire trucks of aid because of a single dual-use item, and artificial restrictions on inspections.
As well as repeated attacks on humanitarian sites that shouldn’t have been hit.
