The US cites a litany of rights abuses in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank

The resulting conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has had a “significant negative impact” on the human rights record in Israel, 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 attacks, which killed more than 1,200 people, and the subsequent deaths of civilians during Israel’s military response in Gaza “have also raised deeply troubling human rights concerns. ”

But Blinken stopped short of announcing a decision that the Israeli government has suggested could be imminent to suspend U.S. security assistance to elements of the Israeli military over alleged human rights abuses. While the Biden administration has declined to say whether it plans to ban aid to any unit under the Leahy Laws, Israeli officials have preemptively protested such a move in recent days.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a member of Israel’s Special War Cabinet, warned the government this weekend against targeting the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, which he said plays a key role in Israel’s fight against Hamas and the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah. In 2022, the IDF disciplined several officials over the death of an elderly Palestinian-American man in the unit’s custody.

Blinken said the United States will continue to assess the human rights record of foreign nations, and may allow consequences for countries that fall short, regardless of their status as an enemy or partner of the United States . Washington has long been Israel’s main ally and military backer.

“When we look at human rights and conditioning (aid), human rights around the world, we apply the same standard to everyone,” he told reporters. “That does not change whether the country in question is an adversary or competitor, a friend or an ally.”

If such an appointment were to occur, it would likely increase friction between President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a time of intense tension. about Israel’s warfare in Gaza and its failure to ensure that civilians trapped there have adequate food and medicine.

The report pointed to the deaths of more than 21,000 people in the Gaza Strip through the end of 2023. Robert Gilchrist, an official at the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, declined to specify how the ministry determined these figures and or based mainly on figures from Gaza health authorities, which Israeli officials have long said are controlled by Hamas and provide exaggerated reporting.

Blinken said the State Department continued to review allegations from human rights groups that Israeli forces violated international law in Gaza, but said Israel had shown it will hold its own people and institutions accountable.

“This is what sets democracies apart from other countries: the ability, willingness and determination to look at themselves,” he said.

The report said Israeli authorities have “taken some steps to identify and punish officials accused of committing human rights abuses” in the West Bank, where US officials have long criticized Israeli settlement establishments and violence of settlers against Palestinians. The government last week announced new penalties linked to individuals accused of fueling the violence there.

But it said Israeli authorities operating in Gaza “have not taken publicly visible steps to identify and punish officials” involved in alleged violations there.

Because the report covers 2023, it did not address the aftermath of a high-profile incident in which the Israeli military targeted an international aid convoy in April, killing seven people. An initial Israeli investigation into that incident found that the IDF had violated its own rules. At least two officers were fired and other officials were reprimanded.

But in many other cases where rights groups have shouted indecency, including Israel’s attacks on hospitals or apartment buildings in Gaza, Israel has cited Hamas’s practice of hiding militants among civilians and said its own operations comply with international law.