Israel buys 69% of its weapons from American sources (French)

The United States of America said that it has no evidence that Israel violated international humanitarian law after its ally provided guarantees regarding the uses of American weapons, despite members of Congress directing sharp criticism in this regard.

Last month, President Joe Biden's administration gave directives 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 death toll of civilians in the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

The US State Department confirmed that Israel and six other countries that receive US military aid - Colombia, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and Ukraine - have provided written guarantees.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told 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 at the heart of the guarantees."

Miller 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.

The spokesman said, "We have not concluded that Israel is violating international humanitarian law, either with regard to the conduct of the war or with regard to the provision of humanitarian aid."

Warnings from Congress

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 include Tim Kaine, Dick Darbin and Bernie Sanders, said that the UN warning of an impending famine in Gaza “clearly indicates that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is not making sufficient efforts to provide aid access to starving and desperate people in Gaza.” ".

The letter added, "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."

The United States is Israel's largest military and diplomatic supporter, and research conducted by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute showed that 69% of Israel's arms purchases come from American companies, but 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 a halt. Immediate shooting in Gaza during Ramadan.

Israel has been waging a war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, resulting in more than 32,000 martyrs and about 75,000 wounded, most of them children and women, in addition to widespread destruction of infrastructure and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

Source: Al Jazeera + French