The United States State Department is investigating several Israeli airstrikes on Gaza to see whether the Jewish state misused American bombs and missiles sent as military aid to kill civilians.
There have been a series of attacks on Gaza that have left dozens of civilians dead since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on the Jewish state. Most recently, Israel launched airstrikes on Rafah, a southern Gaza city where roughly half of the Palestinian enclave’s 2.3 million people took refuge after Israel launched their attacks.
One of the attacks State Department officials are investigating is an Oct. 31 airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp near Gaza City that killed over 125 people, the officials told the Wall Street Journal.
Weapons investigators are suspecting that Israel used a 2,000-pound bomb in the strike, which could have been provided by the U.S. The United Nations Human Rights Office said that the strike killed a large number of civilians and could be considered a war crime.
Israel said at the time that it was targeting a Hamas commander in a high-rise building. Israeli officials declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal as to what type of weapon was used in the Oct. 31 strike. However, the nation claimed it tried to minimize civilian casualties by using a delayed fuse that allowed it to detonate beneath the ground.
If U.S. investigators conclude that the weapons were misused by Israel, they could recommend America cuts off military aid to the Jewish state. The investigators may also suggest restrictions, or propose new guidance on any further support.
However, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said on Tuesday that the investigative process wasn’t designed to act as a fast-moving examination that would quickly shift U.S. policy decisions.
“That process is not intended to function as a rapid response mechanism,” Miller said. “Rather, it is designed to systematically assess civilian harm incidents and develop appropriate policy responses to reduce the risk of such incidents occurring in the future.”
Officials told Politico’s NatSec Daily on Monday that the Biden administration has no plans to reprimand Israel for the recent Rafah airstrikes that left 95 people, including 42 children, dead. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on the same day that President Joe Biden would continue to support Israel. He said he would not “get into a hypothetical game” when asked what would happen if Israel continued strikes in Rafah without regard for civilian casualties.
The process is another sign that the Biden administration is facing struggles at home with its support of Israel, as activists and pro-Palestinian supporters repeatedly call for a ceasefire as the death toll continues to rise. The U.S. has stopped short of putting conditions on arms transfers to Israel, but some members of Congress are pressuring the Biden administration to do so.
Israel’s strikes on Palestinian territory have left over 28,000 people dead, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian health authorities. The conflict between Gaza and Israel escalated with Hamas’s attacks on the Jewish state that killed nearly 1,200 Israelis.
Biden has largely avoided directly criticizing how Israel is conducting its war against Gaza, but last week, he described it as “over the top.”
The “conduct of the response in [the] Gaza Strip has been over the top,” Biden said. “I’m pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage ceasefire. I’ve been working tirelessly on this deal … because I think if we can get the delay, the initial delay — I think we would be able to extend that so that we could increase the prospect that this fighting in Gaza changes.”
U.S. officials said that investigators would also look into the possible use of white phosphorous by Israel in Lebanon. White phosphorous is a highly flammable compound that causes plumes of smoke that can be used legally in war. However, it is banned and considered a war crime if it is used to target civilians. The chemical can burn at temperatures of up to 85 degrees Celsius and if it comes into contact with humans, it can burn bodies down to bone.
Lebanon’s state-sponsored media reported several white phosphorus attacks in October, and Lebanese Minister Abdallah Bou Habib instructed the Lebanese delegation to the United Nations to file a complaint with the U.N. Security Council. The Israeli military has said its use of white phosphorus is compliant with international law.
“We have lodged formal complaints and are currently preparing to furnish the results of our laboratory analysis, along with comprehensive documentation, to supplement the ongoing complaint initiated by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the United Nations,” Lebanon’s Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told the Wall Street Journal.
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Josh Paul, a former State Department official, said that any use of white phosphorus would have attracted the attention of U.S. officials because the U.S. government has cautioned Israel about misusing the compound in the past.
The Israeli military declined to comment to the outlet if they would cooperate with the U.S. investigation.