Secretary of State Antony
Blinken delivered to Congress on Friday a
highly anticipated report on the Israeli
military's operations in Gaza that accused
Israeli forces of potentially violating
international humanitarian law but not
formally finding they had already done so,
according to the document's key findings.
The report states that though
there are allegations that Israel violated
international humanitarian law during the
period covered by the report, Jan. 1, 2023
through late April of this year, the U.S.
doesn't have "complete information" on whether
U.S. weapons were used in those actions. Its
authors cite the difficulty of determining
facts on the ground in an active war zone as
well as Hamas's use of civilian infrastructure
for military purposes.
"Nevertheless, given Israel's
significant reliance on U.S.-made defense
articles, it is reasonable to assess that
defense articles…have been used by Israeli
security forces since October 7 in instances
inconsistent with its [international
humanitarian law] obligations or with
established best practices for mitigating
civilian harm," the report states.
Though it finds that Israel "did
not fully cooperate" with the U.S. government
in the initial months after Oct. 7 to maximize
the flow of humanitarian aid, the report notes
a "substantial increase" in its efforts more
recently.
And while the overall level of
aid reaching Palestinian civilians remains
"insufficient," the report says, "we do not
currently assess that the Israeli government
is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the
transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian
assistance" within applicable U.S. law.
The 50-page, declassified report
is a compendium of views from bureaus and
diplomatic officials from across the State
Department and includes input from the
Pentagon and White House. The
first-of-its-kind assessment was mandated by
President Biden in February.
The memorandum, known as NSM-20, required
written commitments within 180 days from the
more than 100 countries that currently receive
U.S. military aid that the weapons are being
used in accordance with U.S. and international
humanitarian law and that the countries would
duly facilitate the delivery of U.S.
humanitarian assistance. Those in active
conflict – including Israel, Ukraine, Nigeria,
Somalia, Iraq, Colombia and Kenya – faced a
shorter, 45-day deadline of March 24 to submit
their assurances.
The State Department then set a
self-imposed deadline of May 8 to deliver a
mandated review of those assurances to
Congress, but the timing of the report's
delivery slipped as officials finalized its
conclusions.
"This is the first time the
department has conducted such an exercise. And
so we are taking all deliberate care to make
sure that we get everything in it absolutely
correct," State Department spokesman Matthew
Miller said in a press briefing on May 8.
The
report comes at a critical time in Israel's
now seven-month long military campaign in
Gaza. In a marked policy shift, President
Biden said in
an interview with CNN on Wednesday that the
U.S. had paused one shipment of 2,000 pound
bombs to Israel to prevent them from being
used in a major operation in Rafah, a city in
southern Gaza, acknowledging for the first
time that "civilians have been killed as a
consequence of those bombs."
The White House announcement released Tuesday
night specifically stipulated that one
shipment of 3,500 bombs, including 500- and
2,000-pound so-called dumb bombs, had been
paused the week prior due to concern about the
"end use" and the "impact they could have in
dense urban settings." The paper statement
also stipulated that the State Department was
reviewing other deliveries, including JDAM
kits, which help turn dumb bombs into
precision munitions. More than 1 million
Palestinians are estimated to be sheltering in
Rafah.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby
said Friday the president had been "fully
briefed" on the memorandum.
Israeli forces have for weeks been conducting
airstrikes in Rafah, and earlier this week
sent in tanks and troops to seize portions of
the city, including the Rafah border crossing
with Egypt. Biden administration officials
have described the incursions to date as
"limited," while warning against a broader
operation that would imperil a greater number
of civilian lives.
In that CNN interview, Mr. Biden also
indicated that he'd make sure Israel would
continue to receive defensive weapons like the
Iron Dome system, but indicated that he might
withhold other offensive weapons and artillery
shells if the IDF went through with an assault
on what he referred to as "population centers"
in Rafah. Following Biden's remarks, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in
a statement, "If Israel has to stand alone, we
will stand alone." Israel's war cabinet voted
unanimously on Thursday evening to expand
operations in Rafah, according to Israeli
media.
Mr. Biden issued
the NSM-20 in February, following pressure
from Democratic lawmakers, including Maryland
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who called for more
stringent enforcement mechanisms to ensure
recipients of U.S. military assistance were
complying with international law. This
coincided with President Biden's request to
Congress to approve emergency security
supplemental funding to Israel, which
ultimately signed off on $26 billion in
funding last month on top of the annual $3
billion in annual military aid Israel
receives.
Nearly
35,000 Palestinian civilians, most of them
women and children, have been killed since the
start of Israel's military campaign began in
Gaza, according to local health authorities.
Israeli forces went in after more than a
thousand Hamas militants stormed over Israel's
southern border, killed more than 1,200
Israelis and took more than 240 hostages.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers have already accused Israel of
violating U.S. law under the Foreign
Assistance Act and are pushing the
administration to impose penalties. Multiple
human rights organizations and an independent
task force have also said Israel has
shown a "clear pattern" of violations of
international law and restricting humanitarian
assistance.
The State Department has active investigations
into Israel's conduct under other internal
accountability mechanisms, including Civilian
Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG), which
was established in August 2023. Miller, the
department spokesman, in February confirmed
incidents in Gaza in which civilians may have
been harmed by American weapons were under
review.
The Department has separate processes for
making determinations on whether atrocities,
including genocide, have been committed in a
conflict.
Blinken has also for months been weighing the
potential suspension of military aid under a
federal measure known as the Leahy Law to one
IDF unit determined to have committed gross
violations of human rights in the West Bank,
before the Oct. 7 attacks. The department has
been weighing
"new information" about the unit submitted by
the Israeli government last month, officials
have said.