Part of the military aid package will go to an Israeli army unit accused of serious rights abuses of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The United States will send an additional $3.5bn to Israel to spend on US-made weapons and military equipment, the Department of State has said, as the deadly war in Gaza continues into its 10th month and amid claims of widespread Israeli military abuses in the occupied Palestinian territory.
A State Department spokesperson said on Friday that the department had notified Congress on Thursday that the Biden administration intended to release billions of dollars worth of foreign military financing to Israel.
US broadcast media first reported on the release of the funds, which comes from a $14.5bn supplemental funding bill for Israel passed by the Congress in April. The supplemental budget comes on top of the more than $3bn in annual US military aid to Israel.
Part of the new financial aid will go to an Israeli military unit, which is accused of carrying out human rights abuses against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The State Department said it had decided against sanctioning the unit – which would have been the first-ever blocking of aid to the Israeli military – saying it was satisfied with Israeli efforts to address “violations by this unit” which have been “effectively remediated”.
While the US has not publicly named the unit, it is believed to be Israel’s Netzah Yehuda battalion, which has historically been based in the occupied West Bank.
The battalion and some of its members have been linked to the abuse of Palestinian civilians, including the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American man after his detention by the unit in 2022.
The greenlight given to Netzah Yehuda comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined in a finding made public in April that an Israeli army battalion committed grave human rights abuses against Palestinians, triggering an investigation under US legislation related to US military aid to foreign forces known as the Leahy Law.
In the face of protests from Republican lawmakers over the findings of abuse related to the battalion, Blinken said he would allow aid to continue to the unit in order to give Israel time to address the wrongdoing.
News of Blinken’s reversal comes as criticism of Israel mounts amid the killings of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in its war on Gaza.
The Israeli military has been accused of numerous human rights violations against Palestinians both in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including killing civilians indiscriminately in attacks on homes, hospitals and school shelters, torture of prisoners, and depriving hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians of water, food and medical supplies.
Most recently, 10 Israeli soldiers were accused of the brutal gang rape of a Palestinian detainee in an Israeli prison camp, which was caught on video.