WASHINGTON, November 8. /TASS/. The US administration does not provide data on the arms transfer to Israel in order to avoid drawing attention to the deaths of civilians in the Gaza Strip caused by the use of American weapons, William Hartung, a researcher at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and expert on weapons sales, told The Intercept.

"The notion that it would in any way harm the Israeli military’s operational security to provide more information is a cover story for efforts to reduce information on the types of weapons being supplied to Israel and how they are being used," Hartung told The Intercept. The article states that Washington publishes detailed information about arms deliveries to Ukraine, but discloses very little information about its military aid to Israel. American officials explain this by their unwillingness to harm the Jewish state's security.

"I think the purposeful lack of transparency over what weapons the U.S. is supplying to Israel on a daily basis is tied to the larger administration policy of downplaying the extent to which Israel will use those weapons to commit war crimes and kill civilians in Gaza," Hartung added. "Although Israel certainly has the right to defend itself against the kind of horrific attack carried out by Hamas, its response — bombing and blockading a whole territory of 2 million people, killing thousands of innocent people in the process — has been described by independent experts as committing war crimes," Hartung noted.

According to the researcher, "it is a delicate matter politically to give all the details on US weapons supplied to the Israeli military," the expert explains that some US weapons "will certainly be used in illegal attacks on civilians if the war continues to grind on."

The article also cites the opinion of a retired general who worked in the region. According to him, the United States administration does not want to publicize the detailed information on the arms transfer to Israel because the use of it could result in civilian deaths.

Escalation of Palestinian-Israeli conflict

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking people, including women, children and the elderly, hostage. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and launched ground operations in the enclave, also carrying out air strikes on targets in the Strip, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria.

On October 27, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the Jewish state was expanding its ground military operation in the Gaza Strip.