WASHINGTON: The Bush administration warned on Friday 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 scrutinized 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 an official said: “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 $2 billion 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,” 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.”

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.”

The export issue provoked outrage from Labour members in Britain’s House of Commons (lower chamber of Parliament) a day before the attack, on Monday, when Foreign Secretary 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 . —Dawn/The Guardian News Service.