Exclusive: Some US officials say in internal memo Israel may be violating international law in Gaza
Item 1 of 2 Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah, April 21, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
[1/2]Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah, April 21, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem Purchase Licensing Rights WASHINGTON,
April 27 (Reuters) - Some senior U.S. officials have advised Secretary
of State Antony Blinken that they do not find "credible or reliable"
Israel's assurances that it is using U.S.-supplied weapons in accordance
with international humanitarian law, according to an internal State
Department memo reviewed by Reuters.
Other officials upheld support for Israel's representation.
Under
a National Security Memorandum (NSM) issued by President Joe Biden in
February, Blinken must report to Congress by May 8 whether he finds
credible Israel's assurances that its use of U.S. weapons does not
violate U.S. or international law.
By
March 24, at least seven State Department bureaus had sent in their
contributions to an initial "options memo" to Blinken. Parts of the
memo, which has not been previously reported, were classified.
The
submissions to the memo provide the most extensive picture to date of
the divisions inside the State Department over whether Israel might be
violating international humanitarian law in Gaza.
"Some
components in the department favored accepting Israel's assurances,
some favored rejecting them and some took no position," a U.S. official
said.
A
joint submission from four bureaus - Democracy Human Rights &
Labor; Population, Refugees and Migration; Global Criminal Justice and
International Organization Affairs – raised "serious concern over
non-compliance" with international humanitarian law during Israel's
prosecution of the Gaza war.
The
assessment from the four bureaus said Israel's assurances were "neither
credible nor reliable." It cited eight examples of Israeli military
actions that the officials said raise "serious questions" about
potential violations of international humanitarian law.
These
included repeatedly striking protected sites and civilian
infrastructure; "unconscionably high levels of civilian harm to military
advantage"; taking little action to investigate violations or to hold
to account those responsible for significant civilian harm and "killing
humanitarian workers and journalists at an unprecedented rate."
The
assessment from the four bureaus also cited 11 instances of Israeli
military actions the officials said "arbitrarily restrict humanitarian
aid," including rejecting entire trucks of aid due to a single
"dual-use" item, "artificial" limitations on inspections as well as
repeated attacks on humanitarian sites that should not be hit.
Another
submission to the memo reviewed by Reuters, from the bureau of
Political and Military Affairs, which deals with U.S. military
assistance and arms transfers, warned Blinken that suspending U.S.
weapons would limit Israel's ability to meet potential threats outside
its airspace and require Washington to re-evaluate "all ongoing and
future sales to other countries in the region."
Any
suspension of U.S. arms sales would invite "provocations" by Iran and
aligned militias, the bureau said in its submission, illustrating the
push-and-pull inside the department as it prepares to report to
Congress.
The submission did not directly address Israel's assurances.
Inputs
to the memo from the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat
Antisemitism and U.S. ambassador to Israel Jack Lew said they assessed
Israel's assurances as credible and reliable, a second U.S. official
told Reuters.
The
State Department's legal bureau, known as the Office of the Legal
Adviser, "did not take a substantive position" on the credibility of
Israel's assurances, a source familiar with the matter said.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the agency doesn't comment on leaked documents.
"On
complex issues, the Secretary often hears a diverse range of views from
within the Department, and he takes all of those views into
consideration," Miller said.
MAY 8 REPORT TO CONGRESS
When
asked about the memo, an Israeli official said: "Israel is fully
committed to its commitments and their implementation, among them the
assurances given to the U.S. government."
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Biden administration officials repeatedly have said they have not found Israel in violation of international law.
Blinken has seen all of the bureau assessments about Israel's pledges, the second U.S. official said.
Matthew
Miller on March 25 said the department received the pledges. However,
the State Department is not expected to render its complete assessment
of credibility until the May 8 report to Congress.
Further deliberations between the department's bureaus are underway ahead of the report's deadline, the U.S. official said.
USAID
also provided input to the memo. "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 officials wrote in
the submission.
USAID does not comment on leaked documents, a USAID spokesperson said.
The
warnings about Israel's possible breaches of international humanitarian
law made by some senior State Department officials come as Israel is
vowing to launch a military offensive into Rafah, the southern-most
pocket of the Gaza Strip that is home to over a million people displaced
by the war, despite repeated warnings from Washington not to do so.
Israel's
military conduct has come under increasing scrutiny as its forces have
killed 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the enclave's health
authorities, most of them women and children.
Israel's
assault was launched in response to the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct.
7, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 250 others taken
hostage.
The
National Security Memorandum was issued in early February after
Democratic lawmakers began questioning whether Israel was abiding by
international law.
The
memorandum imposed no new legal requirements but asked the State
Department to demand written assurances from countries receiving
U.S.-funded weapons that they are not violating international
humanitarian law or blocking U.S. humanitarian assistance.
It
also required the administration to submit an annual report to Congress
to assess whether countries are adhering to international law and not
impeding the flow of humanitarian aid.
If
Israel's assurances are called into question, Biden would have the
option to "remediate" the situation through actions ranging from seeking
fresh assurances to suspending further U.S. weapons transfers,
according to the memorandum.
Biden can suspend or put conditions on U.S. weapons transfers at any time.
He has so far resisted calls from rights groups, left-leaning Democrats and Arab American groups to do so.
(This story has been refiled to remove an extraneous paragraph)
Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Don Durfee and Suzanne Goldenberg