Powell reviews use of US arms after outcry at Israeli F-16 raid

Gaza bombing may have breached export laws.

The Bush administration warned yesterday that it is reviewing Israel's use of American arms in operations that kill civilians after a bomb dropped by a US-made F-16 fighter plane killed 15 people, including nine children, in Gaza on Tuesday, and provoked worldwide protests.

In a hint that Israel's actions were being scrutinised for possible breaches of US export control laws, Colin Powell, the secretary of state, said in Washington: "We were concerned about that incident ... We are constantly reviewing the manner in which the military equipment that we have provided to the state of Israel is used."

His remarks followed a warning from Richard Boucher, a state department spokesman, that the government would "watch and monitor Israeli actions very carefully", urging the country to "consider the consequences" of its actions.

Both men stopped short of announcing a legal review of Israel's raid on Tuesday, which killed Salah Shehada, a Hamas military leader, and 14 others in buildings near his home.

But a state department official told Agence France-Presse: "There is an expectation that we will take a look at this action in the light of the Arms Export Control Act."

The law requires that American arms sold abroad must only be used for "legitimate self-defence or internal security", and has been applied in the Middle East conflict before: in 1982 the US suspended shipments of cluster bombs to Israel because it used them in Lebanon.

Israel received $2bn (£1.28bn) in military aid from Washington last year, most of which it is required to spend on US products.

Other recipients of such aid are required to spend all of it on US goods. The state department views Israel's abiding by the export laws as crucial to the US retaining credibility as a broker in peace negotiations in the Middle East.

The definition of "self-defence" would be key to a legal review of Tuesday's operation, and the state department would be required to submit a report to Congress if it believed the law had been broken.

"We have not made a report like this since the current violence began," Mr Boucher said, "but we made quite clear that we are seriously concerned about some of the Israeli tactics." But he added: "We're not trying to find legalistic technicalities to hang Israel on, or its lawyers on."

Mr Powell told reporters: "In this case, in going after one particular individual in a built-up area, a number of lives were lost, and I know the Israeli government is looking into that strike and how it was planned and how it was directed."

He was speaking after a meeting with the Afghan foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, to whom he expressed his sadness at civilian deaths in US raids in Afghanistan.

The Gaza attack drew condemnation from many governments, with President Bush criticising it as "heavy-handed".

Israel declared the mission a success, because it said Shehada was planning new suicide attacks, but blamed the other deaths, which it regretted, on erroneous intelligence.

The export issue provoked outrage from Labour backbenchers in the House of Commons a day before the attack, on Monday, when Jack Straw announced new export guidelines permitting the supply to the US of British-made components for F-16s subsequently to be sold to Israel.

Such a move would have "serious implications" for Britain's defence relations with Washington, the foreign secretary said: "The state department has been monitoring Israeli actions carefully." Alice Mahon, echoing other leftwing MPs, called the development "an absolute scandal".

In Washington, Daryl Kimbal, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said: "The issue is whether the use of the US-sold equipment meets the criteria of internal security and self-defence [and] it seems to me quite obvious that there should be a review.

"There are additional sales that are in the works, which the administration has notified Congress about, and I think the implication of what the state department is saying is that those may be held up."

The weapons

In the past 10 years the US has sold Israel $7.2bn worth of weaponry and military equipment, including:

Equipment Cost (per unit)

Fighter planes

50 F-4E Phantoms $18.4m

98 F-15 Eagles $38m

237 F-16 Fighting Falcons $34.3m

Helicopters

42 AH-64 Apache Attacks $14.5m

57 Cobra Attacks $10.7m

25 Blackhawks $11m

Missiles

AGM 65 Mavericks $17,000-$110,000

AGM 114 Hellfires $40,000

Aim 7 Sparrows $125,000

Aim 9 Sidewinders $84,000

Aim 120B Amraams $386,000

Harpoon anti-ship missiles $720,000

The US also gives weapons and ammunition free of charge. Between 1994 and 2001 this included 64,744 M-16A1 rifles, 2,469 M-204 grenade launchers, 1,500 M-2 .50 calibre machine guns and .30 calibre, .50 calibre, and 20mm ammunition

Source: World Policy Institute. Research department: Linda MacDonald