Government watchdogs with jurisdiction over the State Department and Pentagon are preparing to release the results of multiple investigations examining the Biden administration’s provision of U.S. weapons to Israel for its military campaign in Gaza, and “several” related investigations are either underway or planned, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The inspector general's upcoming reports, which have not yet been made public, come on the heels of complaints from within the U.S. government that the export of billions of dollars in weapons to Israel violated laws prohibiting the transfer of U.S. military aid to foreign countries that have committed gross human rights abuses or blocked the movement of humanitarian aid.

The Biden administration has acknowledged that Israel may be using U.S. weapons in Gaza in violation of international law, but says continued arms transfers are justified to defend the country. Israel says Palestinian casualties are being borne by Hamas, which operates close to civilian areas in the densely populated enclave and denies it is restricting aid to Gazans.

The inspector general’s investigations are among the latest internal checks by a US administration intent on increasing arms shipments to Israel despite criticism of Israeli military tactics and the massive civilian death toll in Gaza. The investigations come as some of Washington’s closest allies, including Britain, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium, have imposed restrictions on transfers of military equipment to Israel over legal and political concerns that the weapons could be used to commit war crimes.

After Hamas' cross-border attack on the Gaza envelope area, which killed about 1,200 people in Israel, including 311 soldiers, on October 7, Israel launched its ongoing war (since then) that has killed more than 41,000 citizens, wounded about 90 citizens, most of them women and children, and destroyed more than 80% of the Gaza Strip, displacing all 2.4 million Gazans who are forced to flee from one place to another and enter the Strip in search of temporary security.

The Washington Post quotes Mark Hoffman, spokesman for the State Department's Office of the Inspector General, as saying that the office "will soon release the results of the inspection conducted by the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which oversees policies and programs related to security assistance and military sales to Israel."

Meanwhile, Molly Halpern, a spokeswoman for the Defense Department’s Office of the Inspector General, said that “many other projects related to U.S. security assistance to Israel are awaiting public announcement” by the Defense Department’s inspector general. The Pentagon’s watchdog also plans to release the results of its investigation into President Joe Biden’s floating dock, a crippled aid delivery route to Gaza that cost hundreds of millions of dollars before being rendered inoperable by rough seas. The inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) also recently released its own report on the dock, saying experts had warned in advance that the turbulent waters could pose challenges and that the project itself would detract from diplomatic efforts to secure more reliable overland routes for aid.

The inspectors general’s offices disclosed to the newspaper their plans to release the reports while also acknowledging that they had received letters from dozens of federal employees spanning more than 30 agencies who accused the watchdogs of failing to conduct adequate oversight of Washington’s gun policy.

The employee coalition, Federalists United for Peace, said it was aware that inspectors general had received information from government whistleblowers indicating that U.S. officials were “knowingly violating domestic and international law, as well as administration policies and procedures, in order to continue providing U.S. weapons to Israel in its war on Gaza,” according to a copy of the undated letter obtained by the newspaper.

“However, we have not seen any action to date from the inspectors general,” the letter read.

Spokesmen for the inspectors general overseeing the Pentagon, State Department and USAID defended their offices' oversight efforts.

The State Department’s oversight body said it was reviewing its auditing practices related to Leahy Laws, legislation that prohibits the U.S. government from providing military assistance to individuals or security force units that commit gross human rights abuses with impunity. It also said there were plans to review the department’s sanctions policies in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza; its “strategic response” to threats posed by Iranian-backed groups; and humanitarian assistance to the West Bank and Gaza, including safeguards put in place to prevent U.S. assistance from reaching Palestinians accused of “terrorism.”

The Pentagon’s inspector general’s office also said it has “several ongoing and planned projects related to Israel and Gaza.” Parts of the investigations may be redacted depending on the classification levels, and some of those reports are expected to be released later than the State Department reports.

Internal critics of government watchdogs are skeptical that the upcoming reports will hold the Biden administration accountable on the most sensitive issues of U.S. policy toward Israel. One official who co-wrote a letter to the newspaper and the Federalists United for Peace group expressed disappointment that none of the inspectors general have committed to examining “whether leadership circumvented the law, intentionally ignored evidence, or worse, manipulated evidence, in order to facilitate what amounted to illegal arms transfers.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the media.

The newspaper quotes Harrison Mann, a former US Army officer who resigned last May in opposition to US policy in Gaza and works with the Federalists United for Peace, as saying that reliable oversight has become more important than ever.

“State, Defense, and intelligence officials appear to have willfully turned a blind eye to a clear pattern of violations of international humanitarian law and the laws of armed conflict, and avoided investigating countless credible allegations,” Mann said. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller rejected any notion that Secretary of State Antony Blinken misled the public about Israel’s actions.

“We welcome diverse perspectives from our workforce on U.S. policy, but this allegation about the actions of senior officials could not be further from the truth,” he said. “We regularly brief Congress with accurate and timely information, and we work tirelessly to ensure that the actions we take comply with the law and advance the national security interests of the United States.”

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin believes Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas but has been “very clear” to his Israeli counterpart “about the importance of the safety and security of civilians, as well as the need to allow civilians in Gaza unfettered access to humanitarian aid and medical services.”

Last month, the Israeli Defense Ministry said the United States had delivered more than 50,000 tons of rockets, bombs, artillery and other military equipment to Israel since October 7. In late June, U.S. officials told The Washington Post that Washington had transferred at least 14,000 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs and 6,500 500-pound bombs. A month earlier, Biden decided to halt one shipment of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs — less than 1 percent of the weapons sent to Israel since the war began. The administration has since resumed shipments of the 500-pound bombs. In their letter, the coalition of federal workers called on government watchdogs to assess whether U.S. arms transfers to Israel violate existing laws and regulations, such as the Foreign Assistance Act.

The law mandates “no assistance” to any country that directly or indirectly restricts U.S. humanitarian aid, a measure that the United Nations and many independent aid groups have repeatedly accused Israel of implementing over the course of the 11-month war in Gaza.

“The White House has made every possible excuse for the Israeli government’s behavior when it comes to blocking aid, and there is a degree of frustration that these decisions are driven more by politics than law,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former senior Biden administration official who is now president of Refugees International.

He said the inspector general has a formal role in the government and is better equipped than humanitarian groups or journalists to demand answers from U.S. officials.