US State Department Expected to Say that Israel Complied with International Law in Gaza: Report

Washington: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to present a State Department Report to Congress on Friday that, while highly critical of Israeli conduct in the Gaza conflict, falls short of stating that the nation has violated international humanitarian laws, Axios reported. The report is meant to assess two things.

First, whether Israel, a country that receives military aid from the US, has complied with international law while carrying out combat operations in Gaza using American munitions.

Second, whether Israel has ever impeded the delivery of US humanitarian aid to Gaza. 

Besides being politically sensitive, the report is significant as it could potentially affect future US military aid to Israel at a time when the US has already held up one delivery of munitions to Israel last week and has threatened to hold up even more if Israel stages a major combat operation in Rafah. 

Specifically, this report relates to a new national security memorandum that was issued by the White House in February.

Among other things, the National Security Memorandum on Safeguards and Accountability With Respect to Transferred Defense Articles and Defense Services says that any country receiving US military aid must undertake in writing that said aid will not be used for the violation of humanitarian law. 

The memorandum calls on the Departments of State and Defence to submit regular assessment reports to Congress that enable oversight over how US military aid is being used by partner nations.    

The Axios report notes that Israel is one of seven nations that is under the scanner for such an assessment. As for the content of this report, Axios claims that there was a major “tug of war” within the US State Department over the assessment. 

While the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour and USAID recommended that the report conclude that Israel has violated the aforementioned memorandum, the other parts of the department do not wish for such a conclusion. 

Axios also reported that US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew and US Gaza Humanitarian Envoy David Satterfield have written a memo to Secretary of State Blinken saying that Israel was not violating international law in Gaza.

Both officials reportedly noted that while Israel had restricted US aid to Gaza in the past, it was not doing so now after a stern warning regarding the same from Joe Biden in April.  

As such, Blinken is expected to exonerate Israel on the charge of violating humanitarian law in Gaza and breaking the terms of the undertaking that it offered while accepting US military aid.

However, the report will still turn a critical eye to several aspects of Israeli conduct in Gaza and how it has raised concerns over the violation of international law. Blinken will also reportedly tell Congress that it is still looking into many of these problematic instances. 

As noted above, the report is expected to be presented to Congress on Friday though it may be delayed.