WEB DESK
The US State Department says it has confirmed that five Israeli security force units committed gross human rights violations before last October, when the conflict with Hamas began.
The State Department’s deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters on Monday that none of the individual incidents took place in Gaza. He added that four of the “units have effectively remediated” the violations.
Patel did not provide any specifics regarding the cases. But US media outlets have reported that the Israeli units tortured and abused Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
US law prohibits the country from giving foreign security force units military assistance, when there is credible information implicating them in gross human rights violations.
Ahead of Patel’s news conference, US media outlets reported that Washington could suspend military aid to an Israel Defense Forces unit. The reports drew a sharp response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US law does allow for exceptions. Military aid can be provided, if the secretary of state determines that the implicated security force’s government is taking effective steps to bring those responsible to justice.