The American website Axios reported that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is expected to submit a report described as “extremely important” to Congress today, Friday, regarding Israel’s behavior in the Gaza Strip.
The news site quoted 3 American officials as saying that Blinken may submit to Congress today a highly critical report on Israel’s behavior in Gaza, but they indicated that the report does not reach the point of concluding that Israel violated the terms of the use of American weapons.
The officials said that the upcoming report is the most controversial in the US State Department since the attack of last October 7, and they indicated that it will describe the situation in strong terms and will mention that the State Department is investigating several incidents.
Axios also quoted officials as saying that the US State Department is reviewing the use of weapons in Israel and six other countries with armed conflicts, and if it is proven that a country has violated international humanitarian law or obstructed the delivery of US-supported humanitarian aid, this may lead to the suspension of US military aid.
Not ready yet
Last Tuesday, Reuters reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden would miss a deadline scheduled for Wednesday to submit a report to Congress on whether Israel is violating international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip.
A national security memorandum issued by President Biden last February requested that the State Department submit a report to Congress on May 8 regarding the credibility of Israel’s assertions that its use of American weapons does not violate American or international law.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said last Tuesday in a press briefing that the report is not ready yet, but the ministry is working hard to complete it.
The importance of the report comes in light of the acute tension between the US administration and Tel Aviv against the backdrop of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on invading Rafah despite Washington’s opposition. The tension reached the point of halting the sending of an arms shipment to Israel.
Today, Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized US President Joe Biden because his administration stopped sending the arms shipment to Israel, but he expressed his hope that the differences between the two parties would be overcome.
Constant disagreements
In a related context, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that Israeli ministers attacked extremist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir during the cabinet meeting yesterday, Thursday, because of his tweets against Biden.
The Israeli newspaper reported that Minister in the Israeli War Council, Gadi Eisenkot, told Ben Gvir that he must show a lot of respect to the American president.
For his part, Ben Gvir suggested during the meeting that aid to Gaza be reduced if Washington imposed sanctions on Israel, according to the same source.
Ben Gvir had mocked the US President’s threat to stop arming Israel if it invaded the city of Rafah, and said in his account on the X platform that “Hamas loves Biden.”
Hamas ❤️Biden
— Facebook Twitter (@itamarbengvir) May 9, 2024
This comes at a time when the Occupation Army Radio reported that Israel will not be able to ignore Biden’s threat to stop supplying it with ammunition if it begins a large-scale operation in Rafah, stressing that the large-scale operation in Rafah has been stopped so far, considering that Biden harmed Israel’s position in the negotiations when he stripped it of the pressure factor. The great military she has.
On the other hand, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Israel needs a deal and the movement in Cairo must be exhausted to return the kidnapped people to the homeland, according to him.
Lapid believed that US President Joe Biden’s threat to prevent the supply of weapons to Israel is the result of the “failed management” of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a war on Gaza that has left more than 113,000 dead and wounded – most of them children and women – and about 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
The Biden administration repeatedly warned Tel Aviv of the invasion of Rafah, which includes more than 1.5 million Palestinians, including those displaced from their areas as a result of the occupation’s bombing, but Netanyahu stressed his insistence on launching the military operation there despite all the warnings.