According to Reuters, US State Department officials have identified about 500 incidents of civilians being seriously affected by Israeli attacks using US-supplied weapons in Gaza. The Washington Post published US statistics on October 30.
US officials said the incidents began to be reported since the Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, and some cases may have violated international humanitarian law.
In August 2023, the US State Department launched the Civilian Harm Incident Response Guide (CHIRG) process - a global mechanism designed to monitor and assess cases of US-origin weapons causing harm to civilians.
According to the US State Department, the mechanism has three phases including incident analysis, policy impact assessment and coordination of the department’s actions. In the third phase, the US will work with the Israeli government to mitigate the harm or suspend arms export licenses to Israel, but no case in Gaza has reached the third phase, a former US official said.
In a statement on October 30, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that assessing the incidents to determine whether Israel violated international law is necessary but will be difficult. The US is still actively doing this work to get the most correct answer.
Earlier, on October 29, the Israeli army launched an attack in northern Gaza, killing 93 people, including about 20 children. A US State Department spokesman said this was a “horrific incident with horrifying consequences”.
Israel's military operations have come under increasing scrutiny as its offensive in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians since last October.
