The Gaza conflict is worsening Israel’s human rights record, the State Department said Monday, even though officials declined to say whether they would cut off U.S. aid to parts of the Israeli military over alleged human rights abuses. This was stated in a new report released on .
The State Department’s annual human rights report shows that in 2023, in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, parties including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Hamas militants, and the Palestinian Authority, before and after Hamas’s October 7 attack, It cited several rights violations reported to have been committed. It has plunged the Middle East into destabilization and escalating violence.
The resulting conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has had a “significant negative impact” on Israel’s human rights situation, the report said. It cited credible reports of “unlawful killings” by both Hamas and the Israeli government.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the October 7 attack that killed more than 1,200 people and the subsequent civilian deaths from Israel’s military response in Gaza “also raise serious human rights concerns.” Ta.
But Blinken stopped short of announcing a decision that the Israeli government has signaled could threaten U.S. security assistance to Israeli military personnel over alleged human rights abuses. The Biden administration has declined to say whether it intends to ban aid to any troops under the Leahy Act, but Israeli authorities have launched pre-emptive protests against such a move in recent days. .
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a member of Israel’s special wartime cabinet, warned the regime over the weekend against targeting the Netza Yehuda battalion, which plays a key role in Israel’s fight against Hamas and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. In 2022, the IDF disciplined several personnel over the death of an elderly Palestinian-American man in unit custody.
Blinken said the U.S. will continue to evaluate other countries’ human rights records and may grant consequences to countries that fall short, regardless of their status as U.S. enemies or partners. Washington has long been Israel’s main ally and military supporter.
“We look at human rights and human rights situations around the world, so we apply the same standards to everyone,” he told reporters. “That makes no difference whether the country in question is an enemy or a competitor, a friend or an ally.”
Such a designation would come at a time of intense tensions over Israel’s war effort in Gaza and its failure to secure enough food and medicine for civilians trapped there. Friction between the president and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to increase.
The report notes that more than 21,000 people will have died in the Gaza Strip by the end of 2023. Robert Gilchrist, an official with the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, declined to say how the department determined these numbers or whether the deaths were deaths. Although based primarily on figures from Gaza’s health authorities, Israeli officials have long maintained that the Gaza Strip is controlled by Hamas, exaggerating reports.
Blinken said the State Department continues to evaluate claims by human rights groups that Israeli forces are violating international law in the Gaza Strip, but Israel remains committed to holding its own people and institutions accountable. said.
“This is what separates democracies from other countries. It’s the ability, the willingness, the determination to look at yourself,” he said.
The report said Israeli authorities had “taken steps to identify and punish officials alleged to have committed human rights abuses” in the West Bank. In the West Bank, U.S. officials have long criticized Israeli settlement establishment and settler violence against Palestinians. The government last week announced new penalties related to individuals accused of inciting violence there.
However, the newspaper said Israeli authorities operating in Gaza “have not taken any publicly visible steps to identify and punish the officials” involved in the alleged violations in Gaza.
Because the report covers 2023, it does not address the aftermath of the high-profile incident in April when Israeli forces targeted an international aid convoy, killing seven people. An initial Israeli investigation into the incident found that the IDF violated its own regulations. At least two police officers were fired, and others were also disciplined.
But in a number of other incidents in which rights groups have cried foul, such as Israel’s targeting of hospitals and apartment complexes in the Gaza Strip, Israel has cited Hamas’ practice of hiding militants among civilians and threatened its own activities. claimed to be in accordance with international law.
