Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that U.S. forces could bear legal responsibility for assisting the Israeli army in committing war crimes in Gaza, and that they have been directly involved in operations against Palestinians.
اضافة اعلان
The international organization emphasized in a report on its website Tuesday evening the “direct involvement of U.S. forces in military operations in Gaza since October 2023.”
This involvement includes “providing intelligence for Israeli strikes and conducting extensive coordination and planning, making the United States a party to the conflict between Israel and Palestinian armed groups.”
HRW noted: “U.S. forces could therefore share responsibility for participating in violations of the laws of war committed by Israeli forces, and individual Americans involved may face personal liability.”
According to Sarah Yager, director of HRW’s Washington office, “The direct participation of U.S. forces in military operations alongside Israeli forces means, under international law, that the United States has been and continues to be a party to the armed conflict in Gaza.”
She added that “U.S. military personnel, intelligence agents, and contractors who assist Israeli forces committing war crimes could face criminal prosecution for atrocities committed in Gaza.”
On November 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.
HRW highlighted that U.S. officials admitted since the start of the war that the United States provided Israel with intelligence to strike targets in Gaza, along with extensive coordination and planning aimed at targeting Hamas leaders.
In October 2024, then-U.S. President Joe Biden stated: “I directed our special operations personnel and intelligence experts to work with their Israeli counterparts to help locate and track Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders, and with our intelligence assistance, the Israeli army relentlessly pursued Hamas leaders.”
In that same month, Israeli forces assassinated Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas’s political bureau.
HRW confirmed that “Israeli forces committed multiple war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide in Gaza.”
Since assuming office in January, the Trump administration issued statements and took actions indicating support or complicity in unlawful acts by Israeli forces. For example, on January 25, Trump said regarding Gaza that he would “clean everything there,” referring to his proposal for the forced displacement of Palestinians—acts considered war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing under international law.
For decades, Israel has occupied Palestine as well as territories in Syria and Lebanon, refusing to withdraw or allow the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on pre-1967 borders.
HRW also noted that the Trump administration supported the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation”, known in Palestine as “Death Traps”, run by two private U.S. contractors claiming to be independent of any government.
The organization reported that Israeli forces repeatedly fired on Palestinian civilians seeking aid at distribution sites, causing hundreds of casualties, including acts amounting to war crimes.
Additionally, both the Biden and second Trump administrations provided massive arms sales and other security assistance to Israel, with Washington transferring at least $4.17 billion in weapons to Israel between October 2023 and May 2025.
HRW, along with Amnesty International and media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, AFP, CNN, and NPR, confirmed the use of U.S. weapons in Israeli attacks.
HRW stressed that “providing the U.S. government with weapons repeatedly used to carry out attacks clearly amounting to war crimes makes the United States complicit in their illegal use.”
Yager emphasized: “Under international law, any state that knowingly assists another state in committing serious violations of the laws of war is legally complicit. The American public must understand that U.S. weapons provided to Israel directly enable atrocities in Gaza, implicating the United States in violations of the laws of war.”
(Anadolu)
