In a report, the State Department said it was „reasonable“ to conclude that Israel has violated international law in Gaza.
The Biden administration on Friday said Israel’s use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Gaza may have violated international humanitarian law.
The findings came in a U.S. State Department report to Congress, which noted that due to wartime conditions, officials had not found specific instances that showed Israel had violated terms of U.S. weapons agreements.
The report was mandated by President Joe Biden and comes after his recent decision to pause the shipment of bombs to Israel and review future military shipments. The findings of the report are not related to that decision, which Biden said he made as a response to Israel’s move to invade the Gaza city of Rafah.
According to the report, Israel has „the knowledge, experience, and tools to implement best practices for mitigating civilian harm in its military operations,“ but added that „the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is using them effectively in all cases.“
Newsweek reached out to the White House and Israeli government’s press office via email on Friday night for comment.
