One of seven recently discovered mass graves in Gaza as reported by Amnesty International
President Joe Biden’s administration has indefinitely delayed a report investigating potential Israeli war crimes in Gaza, according to a Politico report that cites four sources with insider knowledge.
The development comes after the US State Department was expected to release the report on Wednesday.
If the State Department were to find that Israel violated international humanitarian law, the US may have to stop sending foreign aid. Under theLeahy Law, the US government cannot aid foreign security forces found committing “gross violations of human rights.”
Democratic Senator Peter Welch, an outspoken critic of the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) conduct in Gaza, called on the Biden administration to halt Israeli aid on Tuesday. He argued the US is already in violation of the Leahy Law.
“We write with concern regarding the US government’s failure to apply the Leahy Law consistently to all recipients of US security assistance,” Mr Welch wrote in a letter co-signed by eight other lawmakers.
“Recent articles documented that successive administrations have neglected to implement the Leahy Law in Israel,” he continued.
Last week, dozens of lawmakers also called on the Biden administration to reconsider aid to Israel.
A coalition of 88 Democratic members wrote to the White House on Friday, arguing that Israel’s “restrictions on US-backed humanitarian aid efforts have contributed to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster for Palestinian civilians and to credible reports of famine in parts of Gaza.”
Last month, the White House said future US aid was contingent on Israel announcing “a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.”
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, which borders Egypt in southern Gaza, the Israeli military confirmed.
The Palestinian health ministry says Israel’s continued assault on Gaza has killed almost 35,000 people, most of whom were women and children. The United Nations also says that restrictions on humanitarian aid have created a “man-made famine,” with half the 2.3 million strong population of the strip at catastrophic levels of hunger.
The attacks on Gaza come after 7 October, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 people hostage.
Also this week, Hamas accepted a proposed ceasefire deal over the war in Gaza. Israel, however, has rejected it and talks over a truce are said to be continuing.
Blinken to submit a report
On the other hand Reuters and Israeli media reported on Friday that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to submit the highly critical report to Congress as soon as Friday on Israel’s conduct in Gaza that stops short of concluding it has violated the terms for its use of U.S. weapons, Axios said on Thursday.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the Biden administration was set to miss a Wednesday deadline to report to Congress on whether Israel is violating international humanitarian law in Gaza.
A national security memorandum, NSM-20, issued by President Joe Biden in February, required the department to report to Congress by May 8 how credible are Israel’s assurances that its use of U.S. weapons does not violate U.S. or international law.
On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a press briefing the NSM-20 report was not yet finished but the department was working “very hard” to complete it.
Independent / Reuters
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