A high-stakes report looms over Biden on whether Israel violated international law

The Biden administration is rushing to finish a high-stakes report due to Congress this week on whether Israel has violated international humanitarian law during its war in Gaza — a determination that could lead to significant repercussions and further inflame divisions at home and abroad.

The report has been the subject of intense debate for months across the administration and has already led to deep divisions inside the State Department, where some offices have expressed doubt over Israel’s assurances that it has used US weapons without violating international law during its 7-month war in Gaza.

The report, which will also weigh in on whether Israel has impeded the delivery of US humanitarian assistance, comes at a pivotal moment in the war. Israel appears on the precipice of an incursion into the southern city of Rafah, something President Joe Biden has warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against.

Meanwhile Hamas and Israel remain unable to reach a ceasefire and hostage release agreement as numerous American universities cancel graduation ceremonies after pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campuses over the past few weeks.

Under pressure from Democrats in Congress, Biden agreed in February to issue a new national security memorandum that would examine Israel’s conduct and use of US weapons in its war against Hamas. That memorandum requires all countries using US weapons to attest that they are doing so consistent with international human rights law, with an expedited timeline for those in an active conflict.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced an initial deadline of Wednesday May 8 to report to Congress whether the administration finds those assurances to be “credible and reliable.” On Wednesday, the State Department said it would not deliver the report on time.

“We expect to deliver it in the very near future, in the coming days,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a briefing, adding that the department is still finishing the report.

“We are trying very hard to meet that deadline,” Miller said on Tuesday, noting that it’s the first time the department has written a report of this nature. “It’s possible it slips just a little bit.”

The State Department has remained largely quiet on the production of the report, only saying that “a broad spectrum of the department will contribute to this report.” Insight has been limited from Capitol Hill, where congressional sources said the expectation is that the report will cover the time period from January 2023 to present.

Congressional sources told CNN it was their understanding that the report was drafted by the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs with input from other parts of the agency, and with the involvement of the Defense Department and National Security Council.

Though the report does not mandate a change in US policy, it could be used to trigger one.

Israeli officials, deeply wary that its findings could increase pressure on Biden to condition US military aid to Israel, have been in close touch with the administration as the report has developed, congressional sources said. If the report were to find that Israel is not in compliance with international law, it would likely trigger a firestorm within the Netanyahu government.

The Israeli prime minister and other top members of his government recently railed against potential restrictions in military aid to an Israeli military unit found to have committed gross violations of human rights prior to the war in Gaza.

Although Biden administration officials have become increasingly outspoken about the humanitarian catastrophe resulting from the war, they have largely avoided punitive measures against Israel. Administration officials on Tuesday night acknowledged the first-known hold to military assistance to Israel. Last month, Biden warned Netanyahu that Israel had to do more to address the humanitarian situation or there would be a change in US policy.

Late last month Amnesty International assessed that US-supplied weapons to Israel have been used “in serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, and in a manner that is inconsistent with US law and policy.”

An independent task force led by a former State Department official who quit over US support for Israel and a human rights attorney who is also a Palestinian American activist also concluded that Israeli forces operated in a way that showed a “systemic disregard for fundamental principles of international law” while using US weapons.

The report cites seven specific examples of such violations, including an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attack on Jabalya refugee camp on October 9 which left 39 people dead and for which the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found no specific military objective.

Democrats amp up pressure on Biden

Democrats in both the House and the Senate have urged the Biden administration not to take Israel’s assurances at face value.

Last month, more than two dozen House Democrats wrote a blistering letter to administration officials saying that “a failure to question, at a minimum, the Netanyahu government’s assurances” is antithetical to the national security memorandum’s purpose.

“It’s not enough to take at face value an explanation that you receive. We need to see evidence,” said Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who helped craft the memo Biden signed in February.

Though he voted for the recent aid package that included $15 billion in military aid for Israel, Van Hollen said he believes that the Biden administration needs to pause any transfers of offensive weapons to Israel until Biden’s demands of Israel have been met.

One Republican congressional aide predicted “there’ll be some fratricide within the Democratic Party on this.”

Top Republican lawmakers on the foreign affairs committees in the House and Senate have decried the national security memorandum as “a redundant requirement that adds unnecessary bureaucracy and contributes to frustration from the partners and allies that count on U.S. security assistance.”

As of Monday, the report was still being worked on, according to Miller, the State Department spokesperson.

“It is something that we take incredibly seriously and there’s a lot of work going on at the Department to make sure we fulfill that obligation and we fulfill it thoroughly,” Miller said.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters chant at University of Chicago police as a student encampment is dismantled on Tuesday, May 7.

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Maintenance staff and waste disposal crews clean up after police cleared a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Friday, May 10.

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Protesters carry Palestinian flags during the University of Michigan's main commencement in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday, May 4. Protesters were removed from ceremony after briefly interrupting the proceedings. No one was arrested, according to Melissa Overton, the university's deputy police chief and public information officer.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate on the New York University campus on May 3.

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Police officers block off an area on the Portland State University campus in Portland, Oregon, on May 2.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate on the George Washington University campus in Washington, DC, on May 2.

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Protesters deface a car after a man drove it toward a crowd at Portland State University on May 2. The driver stopped just short of a group of protesters and sprayed them with "some kind of pepper spray," police said.

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Activists make protest signs inside a pro-Palestinian encampment at George Washington University on May 2.

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Emma, right, sheds a tear as she and her friend Aryn listen to the names of Israeli hostages as they attend a pro-Israel rally at George Washington University on May 2.

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A protester is detained at the University of California, Los Angeles, on May 2.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters stand their ground after police breached their encampment at UCLA on May 2.

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Police take down a barricade as protesters gather at an encampment at UCLA on May 2.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus after a group created an encampment inside the building in New York on May 1.

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A man is detained after a scuffle as pro-Palestinian protesters rally outside Fordham on May 1.

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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rebuild a barricade around an encampment at UCLA on May 1. Before police were deployed to campus, pro-Palestinian protesters and Israel supporters were clashing at the school, according to multiple reports.

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Police officers stand guard after clashes erupted on the campus of UCLA.

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Counter-protesters attack a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA.

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Police use a vehicle named "the bear" to enter Hamilton Hall, which was occupied by protesters at Columbia University in New York on April 30. About 300 protesters were arrested, according to the NYPD.

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Police detain a protester at Columbia on April 30.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters climb a fence during demonstrations at The City College of New York on April 30.

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An NYPD bus transports arrested demonstrators at Columbia on April 30.

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Protesters confront police at The City College of New York on April 30.

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NYPD officers march into Columbia on April 30.

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Protesters occupy Columbia's Hamilton Hall early on April 30.

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Protesters barricade themselves inside Hamilton Hall on April 30. Dozens of protesters were occupying Hamilton Hall, one of the campus buildings also occupied during 1968 student protests, according to a social media post from Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.

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A protester breaks the windows of the front door of Hamilton Hall in order to secure a chain around it and prevent authorities from entering early on April 30.

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Protesters at Brown University celebrate April 30 after reaching a deal with the administration to end their encampment in Providence, Rhode Island. The university agreed to hold a vote on divestment from companies that support Israel, according to the protest group.

Seyma Bayram

Columbia University students gather for a picket organized by the Student Workers Union (UAW Local 2710) on April 29.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters confront a Texas state trooper at the University of Texas in Austin on April 29.

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A protester at Columbia University wears the university's disciplinary notice on April 29.

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Demonstrators march past Low Library while chanting "Free Palestine" on Columbia's campus on April 29.

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Students from George Washington University stand on top of police barricades as they protest in Washington, DC, on April 29.

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Pro-Palestinian students and activists participate in a demonstration at UCLA on April 28.

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Students and pro-Palestinian supporters occupy a plaza at New York University on April 26.

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Georgia State Patrol officers detain a demonstrator on the campus of Emory University during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Atlanta on April 25.

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Jewish students wave Israeli flags as a counter-protest near a pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA on April 25.

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Texas state troopers try to break up a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas in Austin on April 24.

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Students at the University of Texas at Austin watch a protest from a classroom window on April 24.

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Students are arrested during the protest in Austin on April 24. There were dozens of arrests. University police had warned students in an email that they faced more arrests if they didn't disperse from the site.

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Protesters link arms at Emerson College in Boston on April 24.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to the media on the campus of Columbia University after meeting with Jewish students on April 24. He called on the school's president to resign during a tense news conference where the crowd repeatedly interrupted him and at times loudly booed him and other Republican lawmakers who were with him.

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Demonstrators' tents are set up on Columbia's campus in New York on April 24. The school is also preparing for graduation ceremonies.

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Demonstrators work on a banner April 24 at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

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Protesters demonstrate at the University of Texas in Austin on April 24.

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Demonstrators and Texas state troopers face one another in Austin on April 24.

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Police stand near protesters at the University of Southern California on April 24.

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New York police officers stand near protesters outside the main entrance of Columbia University on April 24.

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Columbia students prepare to camp overnight on April 23.

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A group of Jewish and non-Jewish students gather at the Columbia encampment to celebrate Seder, a ritual feast at the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover. Columbia student Cameron Jones told CNN: "I am Jewish and, to me, Passover symbolizes perseverance and resilience. I think this encampment represents those two ideals because we have seen the university take countless measures to try to suppress our student activism, and here is us persevering through that."

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A makeshift memorial at Columbia, seen on April 23, pays tribute to Jewish hostages taken by Hamas in October.

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Students protest near New York University on April 23.

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Students at the University of California, Berkeley, set up an encampment at Sproul Hall on April 23.

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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators sit at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, on April 23. University police arrested at least 45 protesters the day before and charged them with criminal trespassing after they refused orders to leave.

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Police and protesters face off at New York University on April 22.

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Police officers clear away tents from an encampment at New York University on April 22.

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People watch from a window as New York University students set up a tent encampment on April 22.

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Students and pro-Palestinian supporters rally at The New School in New York on April 22.

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Students rally at an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge on April 22.

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A pro-Palestinian protest is held at the steps of Columbia's Lowe Library on April 22.

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Some Columbia professors rally in support of their protesting students on April 22.

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Israeli flags are reflected in the sunglasses of a demonstrator in front of Columbia University on April 22.

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Student activists set up camp at a New School cafeteria on April 21.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside a Columbia building on April 20.

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Police officers stand near barriers as pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside of Columbia on April 18.

“We’ll be making our own assessments not just based on what those governments have told us, but based on what we have seen in our review here at the State Department,” he added, saying that Israel provided its assurances to the US at the end of March.

Numerous humanitarian officials from around the world have made clear that they believe there have been violations of international law and have said they have shared their views on the memorandum with USAID, the US’ lead humanitarian agency.

They told CNN that accepting Israel’s assurances that they are in compliance with the law would undermine US credibility.

“It’s clear that there have been violations,” one humanitarian official said. “Frankly, why are people starving and why did you finally decide to drop aid from the sky or build a very expensive port if you yourself had not determined that aid is being blocked?”

This story has been updated with news that the State Department will not meet the May 8 deadline to deliver its report to Congress.