In a long-awaited report, the US State Department suggests that Israel may have violated international law in its war against Hamas, but the nature of the conflict in Gaza complicates the assessment or obtaining convincing conclusions, according to Bloomberg.
It would be reasonable to assess that American weapons have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm, the report states.
However, it is noted that the nature of the conflict in Gaza makes it difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents. The department notes that Israel faced an extraordinary military challenge as Hamas militants used Palestinians as human shields.
The State Department also stated that the situation with access to humanitarian aid in Gaza is still inadequate, but has improved.
At the same time, the report states that we do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance under the US Foreign Assistance Act.
The report was sent to the US Congress, where some lawmakers from the Democratic Party have been pushing the Biden administration to suspend military aid to Israel.
Recently, Biden stated that he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel if the country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a large-scale ground operation in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Operation in Rafah
Israel launched a military operation in the city earlier this week. The US did not support this decision due to concerns about a large number of civilian casualties.
However, there has not yet been a massive invasion of the city. The Israeli army is conducting targeted strikes in an effort to eliminate the last battalions of Hamas.
At the same time, yesterday, May 10, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved a decision to expand the operation.