WASHINGTON, July 25: Israel’s use of US-made weaponry is under constant review, Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Thursday, amid suggestions that the Jewish state may have violated arms control regulations in a widely condemned attack in Gaza this week.

“We are concerned about the incident,” Powell said of the late Monday attack in which an Israeli F-16 dropped a huge bomb on a building in a poor Gaza City neighborhood, killing a leading Palestinian militant and his bodyguard, wife and daughter, as well as 11 other civilians.

“We are constantly reviewing the manner in which the military equipment that we have provided to the State of Israel is used,” Powell said after meeting with Afghanistan’s foreign minister and expressing regret for civilian casualties in US bombings there.

“In this case, in going after one particular individual in a built-up area, a number of lives were lost,” Powell told reporters, adding that he was aware that Israeli officials were investigating the planning and direction of the attack.

The bombing has drawn fierce criticism from around the world, including a rare harsh rebuke from the United States, which termed it “heavy handed.”

Powell gave no indication that Israel had violated the US Arms Export Control Act, which requires the State Department to report to Congress if it believes that US weaponry has been used for anything other than “legitimate self-defense or internal security.”

However, his comments came a day after department spokesman Richard Boucher warned that Israel could face unspecified “consequences” if it misused US weapons.

“We have not made a report like this since the current violence began, but we made quite clear that we are seriously concerned about some of the Israeli tactics,” Boucher said on Wednesday.

“We continue to watch and monitor Israeli actions very carefully, and we urge Israel to consider the consequences of (its) actions.”

A second State Department official said a review of the Gaza incident in relation to the law was likely.

“There is an expectation that we will take a look at this action in light of the Arms Export Control Act,” the official said.

On Tuesday, after some Palestinian officials accused the United States of complicity in the attack because it had supplied Israel with the F-16, Washington had been mute on the matter.

A small group of demonstrators gathered Wednesday outside the department’s Foggy Bottom headquarters to demand that the Gaza attack be reported to Congress as a violation of the legislation.—AFP