Last month, the administration of President Joe Biden gave instructions to countries receiving US military aid to provide “credible and reliable” guarantees of their compliance with human rights laws, against the backdrop of concerns related to the high toll of civilian casualties in the military campaign launched by Israel in Gaza.
The US State Department confirmed that Israel and six other countries receiving US military aid – Colombia, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and Ukraine – had provided written guarantees before a specific deadline on Sunday.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement to reporters, “In each case, these guarantees were provided by a senior, credible official in the partner government who has the ability and authority to make decisions and make commitments related to the issues that are at the heart of the guarantees.”
He added that the US administration, in accordance with the directives known as National Security Memorandum-20, will submit a report to Congress by May 8.
Miller did not give any indication that the Biden administration rejected Israeli guarantees.
He said, “We have not concluded that it violates international humanitarian law, whether with regard to the conduct of war or with regard to the provision of humanitarian aid.”
The United States is Israel's largest military and diplomatic supporter, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his anger on Monday over Washington's failure to use its veto power to prevent the UN Security Council from adopting a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during the month of Ramadan.
The war broke out following an unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, which, according to Israeli figures, killed 1,160 people, most of them civilians. About 250 people were also kidnapped at that time, 130 of whom are still hostage in Gaza, and 33 of them are believed to have died.
The Hamas Ministry of Health announced on Monday that the death toll had risen to 32,333 dead and 74,694 wounded, most of them children and women, in the Gaza Strip after five and a half months of war.
Before the deadline, 17 senators had urged the Biden administration not to immediately consider Israel’s guarantees credible, stressing that American security assistance “must be used to advance our interests and values.”
A letter sent by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, whose signatories included Tim Kaine, Dick Darbin, and Bernie Sanders, said that the United Nations warning of an imminent famine in Gaza “clearly indicates that the Netanyahu government is not making sufficient efforts to provide aid access to starving and desperate people in Gaza.” .
The letter also stated, “As a result, we believe that it would be inconsistent with the letter and spirit of National Security Memorandum 20 to consider that the guarantees provided by the Netanyahu government meet the standard of ‘reliability and credibility’ at this time.”
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