The Amnesty International report documents incidents in which civilians were allegedly injured or killed during the Israeli campaign against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and other cases. It claims that the Israeli military used US-made weapons, including Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and Small Diameter Bombs (SDB), to carry out illegal attacks or kill civilians, resulting in , according to Amnesty, should be investigated as a potential war crime.
These incidents “underscore the general pattern of unlawful attacks carried out by Israeli forces and the extremely high risk that U.S.-made weapons and other materials and services provided to the Israeli government will be used in violation of international law,” it said. the group in its report: a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post before its publication.
“The United States government must immediately suspend the transfer of all weapons and other items to the Israeli government until compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law is demonstrated,” he said. .
A senior Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel respected the laws of armed conflict and that Hamas, for its part, used civilian casualties as a “propaganda tool.”
“While Israel seeks to minimize civilian casualties because it is the right thing to do and the most effective strategy to combat terrorism, Hamas seeks to maximize civilian casualties by targeting Israeli civilians while using Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages as human shields. » said the manager.
The report also cites other cases in which the weapons were not identified or were not of American origin.
The United States has long been Israel’s main military supporter, providing more than $3 billion a year in security assistance. The partnership between the two countries has come under increased scrutiny since Israel launched its offensive against Hamas following the militants’ Oct. 7 attacks, which killed more than 1,200 people. Palestinian authorities say more than 30,000 people, mostly women and children, were killed in subsequent Israeli airstrikes and ground operations.
The White House, in response to pressure over the Gaza war, said in February it would require countries engaged in conflict and receiving U.S. weapons to provide assurances to the United States that they will use them in accordance with international law and will facilitate the delivery of these weapons. American aid.
Under this requirement, National Security Memorandum-20, the administration must submit a report to Congress by May 8 on whether Israel has met these standards, as it has attested.
Since the start of the conflict, the Biden administration has criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for failing to sufficiently protect civilians and allow the entry of aid. More recently, Biden hinted that the US government might withhold support if Israel launched an expected offensive in the southern city of Rafah – although officials have consistently said they did not believe Israel was violating international law .
Officials say more aid has flowed into Gaza in recent weeks, after Biden issued his ultimatum to Netanyahu.
The deadline for the report to Congress comes as the Biden administration deliberates whether to place an Israeli military unit on a list of foreign entities banned from receiving U.S. security assistance due to allegations of ” “gross violations” of human rights – another point of friction between the United States and Israel. ties.
As Biden accelerates his political engagement Campaigning for a second term in the White House, he faces criticism within the Democratic Party and among young voters for his support for Israel. But a possible suspension of US aid to any element of the Israeli military has also drawn criticism from Republicans.
Incidents cited by Amnesty include strikes in December and January on residential buildings in Rafah that the organization says used U.S.-made weapons and killed at least 95 people, including more than 40 children. Amnesty then visited the scene of these attacks to interview survivors and analyze weapons fragments.
Amnesty also accuses the Israeli government of violating “best practices” in protecting civilians in war, saying its military issues unrealistic evacuation orders and citing what it considers the arbitrary detention and torture of Palestinians in the West Bank. Its report also finds that the Israeli government is violating a separate U.S. law requiring countries that receive U.S. defense items to cooperate in the provision of U.S. humanitarian aid.
The group’s findings mirror those of an April 18 report by a group of independent experts, including lawyers and former U.S. officials, which found “systematic disregard for fundamental principles of international law, including attacks recurring attacks launched despite foreseeable and disproportionate damage to civilians and civilian objects. .”
Experts include Josh Paul, a former State Department employee who resigned last fall over the administration’s stance on the Gaza conflict, and Noura Erakat, a professor at Rutgers University.
Incidents cited by this task force, drawn primarily from reporting by other groups and media publications, include strikes on refugee camps in October and December that the report said killed more than 100 people.
Paul, Erakat and the other experts said these incidents “are simply the most easily identifiable among a clear pattern of violations of international law, failure to apply best practices for mitigating harm to civilians, and restrictions on aid.” humanitarian aid by the government of Israel and (Israel). Defense Forces), often using weapons supplied by the United States.
In March, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam released their decision regarding the National Security Memo requirements, saying Israeli assurances of compliance were not credible. This report indicated that Israel had committed war crimes.
Amnesty has conducted on-the-ground assessments during some of the incidents included in its assessment, which it says were carried out at great risk. Because watchdog groups and journalists are often unable to conduct in-person assessments, the group urged the Biden administration to “accept cases in which there is a reasonable presumption that munitions and other articles of American origin were involved.”
“The burden of proving otherwise should be on the U.S. government,” he said.
washingtonpost
