Five Palestinian families on Tuesday sued the State Department over Washington's billions in military aid to Israel, demanding the enforcement of US rules to curb arms flows due to allegations of human rights abuses.
A Palestinian boy stands on the rubble of a house destroyed in Israel's military offensive, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2024. - Reuters file
The complaint, filed on Tuesday and to which the State Department has 60 days to respond, calls for the implementation of the so-called Leahy Law, which the plaintiffs and rights group say Israel has been illegally exempted from.
The law prohibits the provision of security assistance to units facing credible allegations of human rights abuses.
Since the start of Israel's war against Hamas in October 2023, the United States has enacted legislation to provide more than $12.5 billion in direct military aid to its strategic ally.
The war was sparked by an attack by Hamas on Israel that resulted in the deaths of at least 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 45,059 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
Much of the Palestinian enclave has been reduced to rubble in the process.
At a press conference in Washington on Tuesday, Palestinian-American plaintiff Said Assali said his aunt and her six children were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City, alleging US weapons were used to carry out the attack.
"Our families paid an unbearable price for the State Department's refusal to enforce its own laws," said Assali.
Two former State Department staffers told journalists US authorities apply an informal "Israel exception" when assessing the country's military actions.
"The reality is that Israel operates under a different set of rules. The State Department has created this unique, burdensome, high-level process for determining (that) applies only to Israel," said Charles Blaha, a former State Department official who worked on such determinations.
Josh Paul, who resigned from the State Department last year in protest of US policy on Gaza, offered a similar assessment.
The State Department declined to comment on the filing of the complaint.
Earlier this month, rights group Amnesty International accused Israel of "committing genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war.
In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Israel's government vehemently denies the allegations, and has appealed the warrants.
Ahmed Moor, a plaintiff in Tuesday's lawsuit, said seven of his family members in Gaza were living "under a constant fear of bombardment," and that one had been killed.
"My family members are people just like you and me, and their lives have been destroyed by American weapons in direct violation of American law," he said.
"My family's living a nightmare."