US State Department delays report on whether Israel violated international law

WASHINGTON

The US State Department will not be able to submit a report Wednesday to Congress on whether Israel has violated US and international laws, according to spokesman Matthew Miller.

"It will not be transmitted today. We continue to work to finalize the report," Miller told reporters. "We expect to deliver it in the very near future, in the coming days.”

Noting that the agency is making sure it gets everything in it "absolutely correct," Miller said it will be just a brief delay.

Some senior State Department officials reportedly told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel might be violating international law and Israel’s assurances that it submitted to the State Department regarding the use of US weapons are not “credible or reliable”.​​​​​​​

According to a Feb. 8 National Security Memorandum, NSM-20, signed by President Joe Biden, countries that receive US military assistance are required to give Washington "credible and reliable written assurances" that the arms will be used in compliance with "international human rights law and international humanitarian law."

Israel submitted written assurances to the State Department last month, but human rights groups said those assurances were not credible and urged the government to suspend arms transfers to Israel.

The memorandum requires the State Department to compile a report on whether it finds Israel’s assurances credible and send it to Congress by May 8.

The delay comes amid Israel’s recent attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and evacuation orders -- a move widely seen as a prelude to Israel's long-feared attack on the city, home to 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.