US says Israel may have used American arms illegally in Gaza

The US government says Israel may have used American-supplied weapons in breach of international humanitarian law in some instances in the Gaza war.

The state department says it is "reasonable to assess" that US-supplied arms were used in ways "inconsistent" with Israel's obligations.

But it says Israel has had to confront an "extraordinary military challenge" fighting Hamas in Gaza.

The report, ordered by the White House, was submitted to Congress on Friday.

The document says that the US government doesn't have "complete information" to verify its assessment.

However it said that given Israel's significant reliance on US-made weapons "it is reasonable to assess" that they had been used since October 7 "in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm".

It also finds that, despite Israel not fully co-operating with US efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza in the initial months after the conflict began, it does not currently assess that Israel is prohibiting or restricting the transport of aid supplies.