By Daphne Psaledakis and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department's obligation to continue probing some Israeli actions in the Gaza War will pass to the incoming administration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, a department spokesperson told reporters on Wednesday.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden will leave office on Jan. 20 and hand over to Trump. U.S. State Department officials have identified hundreds of potential incidents of civilian harm during Israel's military operations in Gaza involving U.S.-furnished weapons, but have not taken further action on them, sources told Reuters in late October.
Washington has maintained military and diplomatic support for its ally despite criticism from human rights groups stemming from over 46,000 killings in Israel's war in Gaza, according to the local health ministry. The Israeli military onslaught has also led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.
KEY QUOTES
"We continue to work to reach definitive answers with respect to a number of the incidents that we are looking at," the State Department spokesperson said when asked about Israeli actions being looked into by the U.S. government.
"But I can tell you that the obligation that the State Department has to investigate potential violations of international humanitarian law through the use of U.S. weapons are not obligations that expire on Jan. 20th. They are obligations that carry over from this administration into the next administration."
CONTEXT
Negotiators reached a phased deal between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants on Wednesday to end the Gaza war that has displaced the entire population of the Palestinian enclave and caused a hunger crisis.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.