By Al Ahed Staff, Agencies
The US State Department has released a report criticizing the way “Israel” has conducted its aggression on Gaza, but without finding specific violations that would require a military aid ban.
In February, US President Joe Biden ordered the Pentagon and the State Department to “obtain certain assurances” over “Israel’s” use of US-made weapons and to report back to Congress. A summary of the findings was released to the public on Friday.
The report claimed that the “nature of the conflict in Gaza makes it difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents,” and that Washington has yet to obtain “complete information to verify whether US defense articles” resulted in civilian deaths.
“Nevertheless, given ‘Israel’s’ significant reliance on US-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 IHL [international human law] obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm,” the report added.
The summary further alleged that “Israel” has “undertaken steps” to mitigate collateral damage, but the “results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether the ‘IDF’ is using them effectively in all cases.”
Biden admitted earlier this week that at least some Palestinian civilians in Gaza have been martyred by US-made bombs – and has vowed to halt the supply of any weapons that “Israel” could use in a major military operation in the southern city of Rafah.
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