The United States Calls Five Israeli Military Units Involved In Serious Human Rights Violations, Including The Netzah Yehuda Battalion?

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant when he met Israeli military forces on the Gaza border. (Twitter/@yoavgallant)

JAKARTA - The United States announced five units of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are responsible for gross human rights abuses, a move Washington has taken for the first time, the State Department said, but they have not banned a single unit from receiving assistance from Uncle Sam's country.

Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Israel had "remediated" in cases of four of which were in accordance with US laws prohibiting military aid to units committing violations and had not yet been tried.

Patel revealed that the alleged incident occurred outside Gaza before the conflict broke out between Israel and Hamas in October.

Patel declined to provide specific details regarding violations examined by US officials, which units were involved, or what remediation steps were taken.

"Four of these units have effectively fixed these violations, and that's what we expect partners to do," Patel said.

Earlier, human rights groups said they had reported incidents involving Israeli units, including killings beyond legal proceedings, torture and physical violence against the State Department, mostly committed against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"As for the fifth unit, Washington has yet to determine whether there have been adequate remediation efforts and are still discussing with Israel," he said.

The fifth unit is believed to be the Netzah Yehuda battalion of Israel Defense Forces, which was involved in the death of Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian-American, in 2022.

However, all units remain eligible to receive US assistance, Patel said.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on April 19 said he had made a decision regarding allegations that the Israeli unit had committed a violation after the Pro Publica investigative news organization reported State Department officials had recommended that Israeli units be disqualified from receiving US aid under Leahy's law.

Following the statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would fight sanctions imposed on Israeli units, while Israeli war cabinet members Benny Gantz and Yoav Gallant made phone calls with Foreign Minister Blinken.

"All defense agencies, IDF and the State of Israel support you, respect you and strengthen you in your operations to protect the State of Israel," Defense Minister Gallant said while visiting the Netzah Yehuda Battalion on the Gaza border last week.

"Mistakes and mistakes occur wherever there is military activity and that should not happen. But, fact one or two, or (some) soldiers do something wrong, this should not vilify (the whole) battalion," said Defense Minister Gallant.

He underlined, in such cases, the soldiers would be "taken care of."

"No one in this world will teach us what morality and norms are," said Defense Minister Gallant.

Israel's military behavior is increasingly under the spotlight as its troops have killed about 34,500 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health authorities in the region, with many of them being women and children.