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In deaths of civilians in Gaza, U.S. weapons sales to Israel come under scrutiny
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on 20 different locations across the Gaza Strip, reducing a mosque and several homes to rubble and killing five people. (Reuters)
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli missile attack that killed 10 civilians sheltering in a U.N. school here early this month prompted a call for restraint from the U.S. government over what the State Department described as a “disgraceful’’ act.
Yet what Israel used in that Aug. 3 strike, according to the United Nations, was a Hellfire missile — a U.S.-made weapon. The incident was one of many in the ongoing six-week-old war in the Gaza Strip in which weapons sold to Israel by the United States and some European nations have played a prominent role.
In the fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas, the Palestinian death toll now tops 1,900, with nearly three-fourths of the dead being civilians, according to the United Nations.
Of the arms suppliers that have criticized Israel for those civilian deaths, Spain and Britain have announced plans to suspend or review their exports of arms and military-related equipment to Israel. President Obama has offered similar criticism, but U.S. officials also said in recent days that a new transfer of Hellfires will not be delayed.
Instead, the administration is “just taking extra care to look at these shipments” with “a few additional steps,’’ said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.
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