A classified US watchdog report uncovered “many hundreds” of possible Israeli violations of US human rights law in Gaza, The Washington Post revealed.
A classified report by a US government watchdog has found that Israeli military units committed “many hundreds” of potential violations of US human rights law in the Gaza Strip, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing two US officials familiar with the document.
According to the Post, the findings by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General “mark the first time a US government report has acknowledged the scale of Israeli actions in Gaza that fall under the purview of Leahy Laws” — US legislation that bars security assistance to foreign military units credibly accused of gross human rights abuses.
US officials who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity said the classified report indicates that the scale of potential violations is so large it would take “multiple years” for the State Department to review.
“What worries me is that accountability will be forgotten now that the noise of the conflict is dying down,” Charles Blaha, a former State Department official who previously oversaw the office implementing the Leahy Laws, reportedly said.
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The watchdog report was completed just days before Israel and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas agreed to a ceasefire that led to the release of the remaining living Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, partial Israeli withdrawal, and limited humanitarian aid access to Gaza, the Post said.
Despite the ceasefire, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 104 Palestinians on Tuesday, according to Gaza health authorities, marking the deadliest day since the agreement was reached.
The Leahy Laws, named after former Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, require the US government to suspend military assistance to foreign units implicated in extrajudicial killings, torture, and other grave abuses.
Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians since October 2023, has severely tested those laws.
Among the high-profile incidents under review are the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in April 2024 and the killing of more than 100 Palestinians and wounding of 760 others gathered around aid trucks near Gaza City in February 2024, according to local health authorities cited by the Post.
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The Biden administration previously acknowledged both cases in a report to Congress but said it had not yet reached “definitive conclusions” on whether US-supplied weapons were used.
The US provides Israel with at least $3.8 billion in annual military aid, with tens of billions more approved in recent years, making Israel “the largest cumulative recipient of US aid in the world,” the report noted.
The Post further revealed that a special protocol, known as the “Israel Leahy Vetting Forum,” gives Israel a unique advantage in the review process. This system, created by successive US administrations, involves higher-level officials and a lengthier review process than that applied to other countries accused of similar abuses.
“To date the US has not withheld any assistance to any Israeli unit despite clear evidence,” said Josh Paul, a former State Department official and critic of US policy in the Middle East.
Paul explained to the post that while a single objection from a US official can block military aid to other foreign units, in Israel’s case “a US working group must come to a consensus on whether a gross violation of human rights has occurred.”
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That group includes officials from the US Embassy in Jerusalem and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, “two entities that often advocate for Israel within the US system,” according to the newspaper.
In one cited case, the Biden administration declined to suspend aid to an Israeli unit implicated in the 2022 killing of Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian-American who died after being bound, gagged, and detained by Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint.
The administration said it was satisfied with Israel’s internal measures, noting that the individuals “no longer serve in the military.”
Blaha told the Post that he sees “no difference between the Biden administration and the Trump administration on this issue.”
The Washington Post also noted that while President Trump has fired numerous federal watchdogs, including inspectors general, his administration has continued some of their investigations, including one into allegations that Hamas diverted humanitarian aid in Gaza.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
