Hundreds of alleged human rights violations by the IDF in the Gaza Strip were documented in a US government watchdog classified report, two US sources claimed to The Washington Post in a Thursday report.
The possible violations would take the US State Department "multiple years to go over," the anonymous officials told the US paper.
The government watchdog's report is described as "the first time a US government acknowledged the scale of Israeli actions in Gaza."
If proven true, the rights violations could result in the US ending its assistance to the Jewish state, according to the Washington Post, under the Leahy Laws. The laws prohibit the US government "from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights," according to the US State Department website.
Exampled in the report were situations where strikes were carried out on aid workers or Palestinians seeking aid. Specifically, the report outlined the incident where seven aid workers were killed accidentally in April 2024 and an incident in February 2024 where Hamas-led authorities claimed 100 Palestinians were killed while gathering aid from humanitarian trucks.
The officials said that the examples raised doubts about accountability for actions by the IDF.
Further clarifications of the incidents
The killing of the seven international aid workers had the IDF open an investigation into the incident. Then-IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the military will be opening a probe to examine this serious incident further. This will help us reduce the risk of such an event from occurring again."
As a result of the incident, the IDF dismissed two senior officers and censured three others. During the event, the IDF drone unit had thermal imaging that did not see the WCK aid worker's sign posted on the roof of the trucks.
As for the February incident, the IDF stated that the vast majority of Palestinians were killed while trampling each other to get to around 30 aid trucks at about 4:40 a.m.
Tzvi Joffre and Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.