The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the Biden administration has received nearly 500 reports of Israel using American weapons to unnecessarily kill civilians, but no action has been taken.

By refusing to act, the State Department is violating its own policy, which was initiated in August 2023 in response to concerns about Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates’ use of U.S. weapons to kill civilians in Yemen. The policy, known as the Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG) process, directs U.S. officials to investigate incidents and recommend action within two months.

According to the Washington Post report, none of the roughly 500 reports reached the “action” stage. U.S. officials said the CHIRG process had become functionally irrelevant because senior State Department officials were dismissive of any non-Israeli source.

Mike Casey, a former State Department official who resigned last July, said senior State Department officials often dismiss the credibility of Palestinian sources, eyewitness accounts, NGOs, the Palestinian Authority, and the United Nations.

Sources told The Washington Post that at least a quarter of the cases were dismissed in the first of three investigations because they were deemed unreliable or because officials believed that American weapons were not used. The rest of the cases reached the “verification stage,” but this involved only asking Israel about the cases, giving the Israeli government the opportunity to make excuses for its crimes.

“We ask [the Israeli government] about the cases: Did you warn? Why did you hit this school or this safe road or this safe area?” a former official said.

More than two-thirds of the cases remain unresolved because they await a response from the Israeli government. State Department spokesman Matt Miller has made clear over the past year that the United States has been reluctant to hold Israel accountable when asked about atrocities committed with American weapons.

On Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes on an apartment building in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, killed at least 109 Palestinians, including more than two dozen children. Asked by a pastor about the matter, Miller said the United States was “deeply concerned” about the “horrific incident,” but said only that the United States would question Israel about the attack and did not call for an investigation or suggest any U.S. action. “We have reached out to the government of Israel to ask what happened here,” he said.

The United States is violating multiple foreign aid laws by continuing to supply weapons to Israel as it deliberately withholds food aid to starving Palestinians and slaughters women and children on a daily basis. A group of American health volunteers in Gaza estimated that the U.S.-backed Israeli bombing and blockade campaign has killed at least 118,908 Palestinians, including more than 60,000 who have starved to death.

The United States spent at least $22.76 billion in support of the genocidal campaign in one year, including $17.9 billion in direct military aid and $4.8 billion on military operations to support Israel in the region.