US President Joe Biden’s relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hit rock bottom. The Biden administration says Israel is not doing enough to prevent civilian deaths in Gaza. Also, they may have violated international law in Gaza by using US weapons.
In this context, the United States suspended arms shipments to Israel last week. The distance between the two parties is gradually increasing. Such a move on the issue of Israel is rare in recent US history.
The State Department sent a report to the US Congress on Friday. It said Israel may have violated international human rights law in some cases during the Gaza war. They can do so by using US-supplied weapons. The US State Department says that it is important to verify the extent to which Israel has used the weapons provided by the US for inconsistent reasons.
The State Department does not have detailed information on the extent to which these weapons have been used in Gaza. Not only Gaza, Israel is involved in conflict with at least six other countries using weapons provided by the United States.
According to the report, the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations have described Israel’s efforts to reduce civilian casualties as ineffective and inadequate. The US State Department noted that Israel did not fully cooperate with US efforts to maximize humanitarian aid to Gaza in the first months of the war.
David Starfield, a US diplomat who prepared the report, said, “The United States has been monitoring Israel’s actions since the beginning of the Gaza war. As the whole world saw, it was not like any other war or conflict. In the report, we have tried to bring out a credible assessment of each issue in an open manner.
There are more than 1 million refugees in Rafah. In the meantime, the Israeli military dropped leaflets in Rafah asking people to leave.
Earlier, Biden warned that the operation in Rafah would be “crossing the final line”. In response, Benjamin Netanyahu said, Israel will fight alone even if no one is on its side. More than 80,000 people have left Rafah since last Monday. The United Nations says Israeli tank convoys have moved closer to the city amid continued bombardment.
In this situation, a draft to give Palestine full membership of the United Nations was unanimously passed by the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. The move was highly symbolic, expressing growing international solidarity with Palestine. He also criticized Israel and the United States.
143 votes were cast in favor of the motion; 9 countries voted against, including Israel and the United States. 25 countries abstained from voting. White House spokesman John Kirby said that such a decision should be based on negotiations in the Middle East.
On the other hand, South Africa appealed to the International Court of Justice to stop Israel’s attack on Rafah city. A statement from the court said that this application was made by South Africa last Friday. The country appealed to the International Court of Justice for the third time for an emergency measure to stop the Israeli attack on Gaza. Israel condemns South Africa for alleged genocide The petition states that Israel’s operations pose an extreme risk to the survival of Palestinians.
35,000 people were killed
Since October 7, the number of dead in Gaza has reached 34,971. 78 thousand 641 people were injured. Most of the casualties were women and children. Many buildings are trapped in the rubble.
