DayofPal— A classified report by the U.S. State Department has concluded that the Israeli army has repeatedly violated American human rights laws during the war in Gaza, the Washington Post reported.
The internal assessment, compiled by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General, reportedly states that the department will need “multiple years” to investigate the “many hundreds” of violations.
The findings were completed just days before the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas earlier this month.
According to The Post, the report raises serious doubts about whether Israel will be held accountable for its atrocities, given the extensive backlog of incidents and a review process that the report describes as biased in favor of the Israeli army.
This marks the first time a U.S. government document has formally acknowledged the scale of Israeli conduct in Gaza potentially falling under the Leahy Laws, U.S. legislation that prohibits security aid to foreign military units implicated in gross human rights abuses.
The report also highlights that the process for reviewing U.S. security assistance to Israel is significantly more complex than for other countries.
While a single U.S. official can typically block aid to a foreign unit accused of abuses, in Israel’s case, the decision must be reviewed by a special interagency working group that includes officials who have historically supported Israel, including representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Before any action is taken, the Israeli government is consulted and asked whether it has addressed the violations. If the working group finds that an Israeli unit committed serious abuses, it may recommend that the unit be declared ineligible for U.S. assistance, a determination that must ultimately be approved by the Secretary of State.
Josh Paul, a former senior State Department official, told The Post that despite years of documented violations, “the United States has never withheld security assistance from any Israeli unit.”
A separate report submitted by the Biden administration to Congress last year cited two major incidents in Gaza: the Israeli strike in April 2024 that killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen, and a February 2024 attack near Gaza City that killed over 100 Palestinians and injured more than 760 others gathered around aid trucks.
The administration said it had not yet determined whether U.S.-supplied weapons were used in those attacks.
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