'It's harming our families': Palestinians sue US State Department over Washington's military aid to Israel

Several Palestinian families on Wednesday sued the US State Department over Washington’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza which has led to the deaths of several thousands of people and triggered a widespread humanitarian campaign.

What did the lawsuit say?

A lawsuit submitted to the US District Court for the District of Columbia claims that Washington has allowed Israel, a key ally, to violate the 1997 Leahy Law. This law prohibits providing military aid to foreign entities in the presence of evidence of human rights abuses committed by the beneficiary country. The plaintiffs, hailing from Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and the United States, allege that these exceptions undermine the law’s intent.

One of the petitioners, Ahmed Moor, a Palestinian American told the non-profit group DAWN_, “_My surviving family members in Gaza have been forcibly displaced four times since October, living in constant fear of indiscriminate Israeli attacks carried out with American weapons.”

“The US government’s military assistance to these abusive Israeli forces, which our own laws prohibit, is enabling these Israeli harms to me and my family,” he added,

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Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has said he is “not aware” of the case “but in any event, I’d defer to the Department of Justice, who typically request that we not comment on cases that they’re going to have to respond to in court.”

The US is Israel’s largest provider of weapons, allocating at least $17.9 billion in military assistance to Israel during the first year of its Gaza offensive, according to a report from Brown University’s Costs of War project.

Israel-Hamas truce talks

Meanwhile, Hamas said talks in Qatar on Tuesday aimed at a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Gaza were “serious and positive”, a day after an Israeli delegation flew in to meet with mediators.

“Hamas affirms that, in light of the serious and positive discussions taking place today in Doha under the auspices of our Qatari and Egyptian brothers, reaching an agreement for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation ceases to impose new conditions,” the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.

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With inputs from AFP