Leaked U.S. Memos Say Israel May Be Violating International Law In Blocking Gaza Aid

The reported findings would legally require the White House to suspend military assistance to Israel, whose offensive in Gaza nears seven months.

Leaked internal memos from both the State Department and the U.S. agency tasked with providing civilian foreign aid reportedly warn that Israel is breaching a White House directive by continuing to block U.S. aid into Gaza ― a violation that legally requires President Joe Biden to suspend military assistance to the country whose offensive in the Palestinian enclave nears seven months.

In February, Biden issued National Security Memorandum-20 (NSM-20) after a growing number of Democratic lawmakers began questioning whether Israel was adhering to international law while using U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza. Under NSM-20, Israel and other U.S. weapons recipients are required to provide assurances that it would not violate international humanitarian law, including restricting humanitarian assistance. Israel made that pledge on March 25.

Though NSM-20 imposes no new legal requirements, it also asks Secretary of State Antony Blinken to report to Congress by May 8 on whether he believes Israel has complied with the assurances.

But an internal State Department memo ― obtained by Reuters and published Saturday ― was jointly submitted to Blinken, and included four bureaus who said they do not find “credible or reliable” the Israeli government’s pledge that its military is using weapons supplied by the U.S. in accordance with international humanitarian law.

The senior officials reportedly cited eight examples of Israeli military action in the memo that could be considered such violations ― including the repeated bombing of protected sites and civilian infrastructure, a massive level of civilian harm, the lack of accountability for those who cause significant civilian harm, and the killing of journalists and humanitarian workers. The bureaus also cited nearly a dozen instances that the Israeli military would “arbitrarily restrict humanitarian aid,” according to Reuters.