In a long-awaited report, the State Department lays out numerous suspected international humanitarian violations by Israel in its war on Gaza, yet suggests no changes in policy or consequences.
The Biden administration concludes it is likely that Israel used U.S.-supplied weapons in “incidents that raise concerns” about the country’s legal compliance, while crediting Israel for investigating them.
The report also concludes Israel is not currently blocking humanitarian aid, despite “deep concerns” about “action and inaction” by the government resulting in aid delivery to Gaza that “remains insufficient.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In a long-awaited report, the State Department lays out numerous suspected international humanitarian violations by Israel in its war on Gaza, yet suggests no changes in policy or consequences.
The memorandum — known as “NSM-20” — required the State and Defense departments to obtain “credible and reliable written assurances” that Israel was not using any U.S.-supplied weapons in violation of international law.
In recent weeks, Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and a coalition of humanitarian organizations flagged numerous incidents to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
As the deadline for the administration’s report approached, officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, joined by parts of the State Department, urged Blinken to find Israel’s commitments were not credible or reliable when it comes to allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“The killing of nearly 32,000 people, of which the GOI (Government of Israel) itself assesses roughly two-thirds are civilian, may well amount to a violation of the international humanitarian law requirement,” USAID wrote in a submission to Blinken, according to reporting from Reuters.
“I guess there was a little hope for me that Blinken would rule that the assurances from Israel weren’t credible,” said an official at USAID who spoke with The Intercept on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
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