In a highly anticipated report to Congress, the Biden administration said Friday it found “credible and reliable” Israeli assurances that it will use US weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law, allowing for the further transfer of American arms amid Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
However, in the strongest such statement from Biden officials, the State Department report also said it was “reasonable” to assess that Israel has used US-supplied weapons since Hamas’s October 7 attack in instances that were “inconsistent” with its international humanitarian law obligations, but that it does not have complete information to verify Israeli forces did so.
The seemingly contradictory assessment came after the State Department was asked to report to Congress, under a new National Security Memorandum (NSM) that US President Joe Biden issued in early February, on whether it finds credible Israel’s assurances that its use of American weapons does not violate US or international law.
At the time the White House agreed to the review, it was working to head off moves from progressive Democratic lawmakers and independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont to start restricting shipments of weapons to Israel.
The presidential directive also obligated the report to examine whether Israel has acted “arbitrarily to deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly,” delivery of any US-supported humanitarian aid into Gaza for civilians there.
The report was issued on Friday as Biden has tried to walk an ever-finer line in his support of Israel since the Hamas-led atrocities that sparked the war, while he faces growing rancor at home and abroad. Last week, Biden took one of the first steps toward conditioning military aid to Israel, pausing a shipments of thousands of bombs over concerns over Israeli plans to invade of Rafah, and on Wednesday he threatened to halt further arms deliveries if the IDF moves into populated parts areas of Gaza’s southernmost city.
“Embassies Bogota, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Nairobi, Abuja, Mogadishu, and Kyiv obtained the required assurances signed by the designated representatives of their respective countries, which were in turn reviewed by the State Department in order to determine credibility and reliability by March 24, 2024,” the State Department wrote.
“While in some countries there have been circumstances over the reporting period that raise serious concerns, the USG currently assesses the assurances provided by each recipient country to be credible and reliable so as to allow the provision of defense articles covered under NSM-20 to continue,” the report stated.
It also said, however: “Israel has not shared complete information to verify whether US defense articles covered under NSM-20 were specifically used in actions that have been alleged as violations of IHL or IHRL in Gaza, or in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the period of the report,” the State Department said in the report to Congress.
“Nevertheless, given Israel’s significant reliance on US-made defense articles, it is reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under NSM-20 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 US government reviewed numerous reports that raise questions about Israel’s compliance with its legal obligations and best practices for mitigating harm to civilians, the report said.
Those included Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure, strikes in densely populated areas and others that call into question whether “expected civilian harm may have been excessive relative to the reported military objective.”
In the period after October 7, the report found, Israel “did not fully cooperate” with US and other international efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. But it said this did not amount to a breach of a US law that blocks the provision of arms to countries that restrict US humanitarian aid.
It said Israel had acted to improve aid delivery since Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call early last month that Washington would withhold some arms supplies if the humanitarian situation did not improve.
The report said individual violations do not necessarily disprove Israel’s commitment to international humanitarian law, as long as it takes steps to investigate and hold violators accountable.
“Israel’s own concern about such incidents is reflected in the fact it has a number of internal investigations underway,” the report said.