The State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices highlighted concerns over Israel’s precautions to minimize civilian casualties in the conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
In the report’s preface, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the human rights concerns, emphasizing that Israel needs to follow international law and take feasible precautions to protect civilians. He also highlighted the department’s concerns about civilian deaths in Gaza during the war.
The report noted that the US has repeatedly raised concerns about humanitarian aid access in Gaza, civilian displacement, and the unprecedented deaths of journalists. Israel was mentioned before the Biden administration addressed human rights abuses in Iran or the Taliban’s mistreatment of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Secretary Blinken condemned Hamas’ October 7th attack on Israel, which included appalling abuses such as gender-based and sexual violence. He also reiterated concerns about Hamas’ abhorrent misuse of civilians and civilian infrastructure as human shields.
A State Department official emphasized that the report’s discussion of issues globally is not a ranking of countries, and representatives for the Israeli government did not provide comments for this story.
