Israel's use of arms in Gaza broke law, says Washington

A State Department report has found "reasonable" evidence that Israel has violated international humanitarian law using US weapons in Gaza, according to the Associated Press. The long-awaited report could have required the US to stop sending weapons to its ally if it had violated the terms of a weapons agreement.

- RICHARD HALL, ERIC GARCIA, ANDREW FEINBERG

But the investigation could not immediately link the violations to US arms, which leaves the Biden administration with some leeway on whether to restrict future sales.

An earlier story by the AP, citing an unnamed official, said that the report was expected to find Israel had not broken international humanitarian law. The report was the result of a presidential directive that came following pressure from Democrats to force the administration to rule on whether USmade weapons sent to Israel were being used lawfully.

It is unclear if the US will continue to investigate if the violations contained in the report were carried out with US weapons. A separate investigation by Amnesty International found that US munitions were used in two "deadly, unlawful airstrikes on homes full of civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip" in October.

"The fact that US-made munitions are being used by Israeli military in unlawful attacks with deadly consequences for civilians should be an urgent wake-up call to the Biden administration. The US-made weapons facilitated the mass killings of extended families," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary general.