US military personnel could face legal liability for assisting Israeli forces who commit war crimes in Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today.
Direct participation by US forces in military operations in Gaza since October 2023, including by providing intelligence for Israeli strikes and conducting extensive coordination and planning, has made the United States a party to the conflict between Israel and Palestinian armed groups. As a warring party, US forces could be jointly responsible for participating in laws-of-war violations by Israeli forces, and US personnel implicated could be held individually responsible for war crimes.
"The direct US participation in military operations with Israeli forces means that as a matter of international law, the United States has been and currently is a party to the armed conflict in Gaza," said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch. "US military and intelligence personnel and contractors assisting Israeli forces who commit war crimes may at some point find themselves facing criminal prosecution for atrocities in Gaza."
Under international humanitarian law, the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza is a non-international armed conflict. International law does not set out specific criteria for determining when a country assisting another country in a non-international armed conflict itself becomes a party to that conflict, though direct participation in combat operations is a clear example.
US officials have acknowledged that since hostilities between Palestinian armed groups and Israel began on October 7, 2023, the United States has provided Israel with extensive actionable intelligence used to strike targets in Gaza, along with extensive coordination, planning, and intelligence gathering with Israeli forces to target Hamas leaders.
US administrations have indicated publicly that the US has been involved in the hostilities. In October 2024, then-President Joe Biden said that he had "directed Special Operations personnel and our intelligence professionals to work side-by-side with their Israeli counterparts to help locate and track [Yahya] Sinwar and other Hamas leaders hiding in Gaza. With our intelligence help, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] relentlessly pursued Hamas's leaders."
After Israeli forces resumed airstrikes across Gaza on March 18, 2025, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told the media in an interview that "the Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight." The Gaza Health Ministry reported that more than 400 people were killed that night, mostly children and women.
Under international humanitarian law, each party to an armed conflict has an obligation to respect and ensure respect for the laws of war by its armed forces and others acting on its instructions or under its control. Governments must exert their influence-to the degree possible-to stop violations of the laws of war, investigate alleged war crimes by their forces, and appropriately prosecute those responsible.
During the hostilities, Israeli forces have carried out a range of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide in Gaza. Since taking office in January, the administration of President Donald Trump, instead of pressing to stop laws-of-war violations, has issued statements or taken actions that indicate support for or complicity in unlawful acts by Israeli forces.
On January 25, President Trump proposed that regarding Gaza, he would "just clean out that whole thing," effectively endorsing the mass forcible deportation of the Palestinian population from Gaza, a war crime, crime against humanity, and ethnic cleansing.
The Trump administration has fully backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), whose aid distributions have resulted in near-daily mass casualty incidents. The GHF system is run by two US private subcontracted companies and claims to be independent of any government. Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on Palestinian civilians seeking assistance at these sites, causing hundreds of casualties, including in acts that amount to war crimes.
In addition to being a party to the conflict, the United States has responsibilities under international law for internationally wrongful acts. The International Law Commission, a United Nations expert body mandated to advance the development of international law, in 2001 adopted the Draft Articles on State Responsibility for Internationally Wrongful Acts. The draft articles, which are widely accepted as reflecting customary international law, provide that a state bears responsibility under international law if it "aids or assists" another state to commit an internationally wrongful act "with knowledge of the circumstances."
