US: Five Israeli Units Responsible for Serious Human Rights Violations Before Gaza

(Patria) - Five units of the Israeli military are responsible for serious human rights violations in incidents that occurred outside Gaza and before the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted in October, the State Department announced.

However, Deputy State Department Spokesman Vedant Patel said this will not affect US arms sales to those units.

He declined to provide details on which human rights were violated, which units were involved in the incidents, and what they subsequently did about them.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this month said he had made "decisions" regarding allegations that Israel violated a series of US laws prohibiting the provision of military aid to individuals or units responsible for gross human rights violations.

The Leahy Laws, proposed by US Senator Patrick Leahy in the late 1990s, prohibit the provision of military aid to individuals or units that commit gross human rights violations and have not been brought to justice.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday that the US had received new information from Israeli authorities about a specific unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that Washington reportedly intended to designate as responsible for alleged human rights violations in the West Bank.

In light of the new information, Washington is examining whether measures are being taken to rectify such conduct, the source said.

The unit in question - the Netzah Yehuda battalion - was established in 1999 and is composed of ultra-Orthodox Jews.