US soldiers could be liable for war crimes in Gaza. Will they be prosecuted?

[Celerity]

Human Rights Watch says US military personnel could face criminal prosecution for assisting Israel’s war in Gaza

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/29/israel-war-crimes-gaza-us-military



Human rights groups and activists who protest against continued US support for Israel have focused primarily on the flow of US weapons, warning that continuing to send weapons to a state which has been documented using them in probable war crimes makes the US complicit. However, this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlighted another facet of US military support for Israel: military cooperation and intelligence sharing.

Individual US military personnel who assist Israeli forces in committing war crimes could face criminal prosecution for their actions, the rights group said. The US has made no secret of its operational support for Israel throughout its 22-month war in Gaza. The US has provided Israel with intelligence at various points during its military operations, and also embedded US military forces within Israeli operational planning.

The direct participation of US forces in Israel’s military activities in Gaza makes it a party to the conflict – and this would mean those individual US soldiers could be liable for any war crimes committed with their assistance, according to Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at HRW. “It goes beyond complicity, the US has directly participated in hostilities. If you played a role in it and the Israeli forces carried out a war crime, you could still be liable for the war crime,” he said.

It is difficult to know the extent of direct US participation in Israeli military operations, as much of it is classified. But both the current and former administration have boasted about their operational support for Israel – at times in military operations which have questionable legality. In October 2024, former US president Joe Biden said that US special operations personnel and members of the intelligence community helped Israel target Hamas leaders, including the former head of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar.

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[David__77]

1. Another important aspect is that there are US citizens actually part of Israeli armed forces.