By Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Democratic senator questioned on Sunday whether the Biden administration was properly assessing whether Israel was respecting international law, following a Reuters report that some senior U.S. officials did not find Israel’s assurances credible. country.
“This information casts serious doubt on the integrity of the process put in place by the Biden administration to verify whether the Netanyahu government is respecting international law in Gaza,” the senator said. Chris Van Hollen said in a statement.
The Reuters report reveals that some senior State Department officials advised the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that they do not find “credible or reliable” Israel’s assurances that it is using US-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Blinken must tell Congress by May 8 whether he finds Israel’s assurances credible. According to an internal State Department memo, several offices within the agency did not find Israel’s statements credible, citing military actions that raised questions about potential violations of international humanitarian law.
Van Hollen said the Reuters report found that those offices’ recommendations “were brushed aside for political convenience.”
“The determination regarding respect for international law is a question of fact and law. Facts and law must not be ignored to achieve a predetermined political outcome. Our credibility is at stake,” he said.
Van Hollen and other Democratic lawmakers pressured the president Joe Biden to impose conditions on military assistance to pressure Israel to limit civilian deaths in the Gaza conflict. So far, the administration has not done so.
The war, now in its seventh month, was sparked by an attack by Hamas militants that left around 1,200 people dead in Israel and 253 hostages taken.
Israel responded with a military operation that killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. The war has displaced most of the 2.3 million people who lived in the region and devastated much of the densely populated enclave.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; writing by Andy Sullivan; editing by Mark Porter)
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