Rights group condemns US aid to Israel, citing violations of international law News
Jaber Jehad Badwan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rights group condemns US aid to Israel, citing violations of international law

The US military could face legal responsibility for assisting Israeli forces that commit war crimes, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated Tuesday. Members of the US military could also be individually implicated for the crimes, according to the rights group.

“The direct US participation in military operations with Israeli forces means that as a matter of international law, the United States has been and currently is a party to the armed conflict in Gaza,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch. 

Under international humanitarian law, the conflict between Israel and Palestinian forces in Gaza is classified as a non-international armed conflict. Article 3 of the Geneva Convention states that in a non-international armed conflict “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture remain prohibited.” International law does not set out specific criteria for determining when a country assisting another country in a non-international armed conflict itself becomes a party to such a conflict, but HRW states that “direct participation in combat operations is a clear example.”

Furthermore, the Draft Articles on State Responsibility for Internationally Wrongful Acts provide in Article 16 that:

A State which aids or assists another State in the commission of an internationally wrongful act by the latter is internationally responsible for doing so if: (a) that State does so with knowledge of the circumstances of the internationally wrongful act; and (b) the act would be internationally wrongful if committed by that State.

Human Rights Watch reported in March that the Trump administration was consulted by the Israelis prior to airstrikes in Gaza. US military officials have also provided “actionable intelligence” to Israel, sold weapons, and contributed other aid to the country. The group warned that these actions violate the Geneva Convention and the Draft Articles on State Responsibility for Internationally Wrongful Acts.

In August, the US Department of State announced sanctions targeting International Criminal Court members, following arrest warrants issued to Israeli leaders for war crimes in Gaza. The August report released by the US Department of State, entitled 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, scaled back references to human rights abuses based on sexuality, gender, and race.

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