Sen. Van Hollen: US' Israel War Report 'Inadequate'

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told reporters on Friday that the Biden administration's report on Israel's war conduct of the war in Gaza is "woefully inadequate," The Hill reported.

Earlier in the day, the Biden administration said Israel's use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law, but stopped short of being able to specifically link U.S. weapons to individual strikes by the Israel Defense Forces.

"If this conduct complies with international standards, God help us all, because that would set a very low bar for what is allowed," Van Hollen told reporters in a call following the release of the report by the State Department.

"It would set a very low bar for the rules of war. It would set a very low bar what's required to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance."

The report was mandated by National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM20), which the Biden administration implemented in February to outline a set of guidelines for international weapons transfers. One of the objectives of NSM20 is to "prevent arms transfers that risk facilitating or otherwise contributing to violations of human rights or international humanitarian law; and prevent arms transfers that risk facilitating or otherwise contributing to violations of human rights or international humanitarian law."

Friday's report comes after months of Israeli strikes, coupled with difficulty in delivering aid to the war-ravaged region, reportedly have resulted in the deaths of close to 35,000 Palestinian civilians.

Van Hollen has supported the transfer of defensive weapons, but has pressed the administration to make sure that any offensive weapons transferred "be used in a manner that's consistent with our values and our interests and the red lines that the president has drawn."

Biden has attempted to walk a diplomatic tightrope in recent weeks as the pressure to pull weapons aid from Israel has increased. On Wednesday, Biden threatened to withhold heavy artillery transfers to Israel if the IDF carried out a full assault on the city of Rafah.

"While the administration has made some important general findings in this report, including the finding that it's reasonable to conclude that Israel has violated international law in the use of American weapons, they all fall short of making difficult determinations in specific cases," Van Hollen said.

He told reporters that the administration has "ducked all the hard questions" and has stopped short of accusing the Netanyahu government of violating international humanitarian law, implying that it was purposely vague.

"This report does not dig deep, because I think by digging deeper you will not just reach a general conclusion about the likelihood of violations of international humanitarian law, you'd have to make judgments about specific cases," Van Hollen said.

• US: Israel's Use of Our Arms Likely Violated Intl. Law, but Evidence Incomplete
• Dems Worry Biden's Image Marred by Israel-Hamas War