It's a significant diplomatic achievement for Gallant, who in recent months has had quiet talks with Blinken and other senior U.S. officials to demonstrate the occupation army has taken steps to address human rights violations by members of the battalion, according to Axios.

The Netzah Yehuda battalion was formed as a special unit for ultra-orthodox soldiers in 1999, as the ultra-Orthodox community has been largely exempt from military service that is otherwise compulsory for young Israelis. All of its members are men.

Over the years, the unit stationed in the West Bank became a destination for many "Hilltop Youth" — young radical right-wing settlers who weren't accepted into any other combat unit in the army.

The unit has a long history of transgressions and impunity.

Imposing sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda battalion would have been an unprecedented move by the Biden administration toward Israel. 

A 1997 law by then-Senator Patrick Leahy prohibits U.S. aid and Defense Department training for foreign security, military and police units credibly to have committed human rights violations.

A senior US official told Axios that while Blinken determined the battalion committed gross human rights violations, the information provided by Israel over the last three months, claims the occupation remediated the behaviour of the battalion towards the Palestinians and addressed the American concerns.

In April, ProPublica reported that a special State Department panel that investigated violations of human rights, recommended that Blinken disqualify multiple Israeli army and police units that operate in the occupied West Bank from receiving US aid.

At a press conference in Italy back then, Blinken was asked about the recommendation and said he had made determinations based on the panel investigation, and said "You can expect to see them in the days ahead."

The US official said Tel Aviv provided Washington with evidence that the two soldiers who were involved in the most significant violations investigated were discharged from combat missions and would not be called for reserve service.

The Israeli army claimed that the criminal investigation did not proceed allegedly because Palestinian witnesses refused to testify, according to Axios.

What they're saying: "As we made public in April, the Department of State found after a careful review that incidents of gross violations of human rights by two units of the Israeli Defense Forces and two civilian authority units had been effectively remediated," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

"The Department has for the past several months continued to review an additional unit to evaluate new information provided by the Government of Israel. After thoroughly reviewing that information, we have determined that violations by this unit have also been effectively remediated. Consistent with the Leahy process, this unit can continue receiving security assistance from the United States of America."

History of abuse

The violence occurred before the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza and all took place in the occupied West Bank.

The US State Department started investigating the battalion in late 2022 following incidents of violence by battalion soldiers against Palestinian civilians, Haaretz reported at the time.

One incident was the death of 80-year-old Palestinian American Omar Assad in January 2022.

Assad was arrested by Netzah Yehuda soldiers at a checkpoint in his village in the West Bank late at night. Israeli soldiers handcuffed, blindfolded and gagged him and left him on the ground in the cold. He was found dead a few hours later.

Following Assad's death, Israeli media reported on several incidents linked to the battalion that had gone largely unpunished, including beatings of Palestinians and attacks on Bedouin citizens of Israel.

The Jerusalem Post newspaper said Netzah Yehuda troops allowed settlers to attack Palestinians, while Haaretz denounced the "clear ideological connection between the residents of the settlements and the unauthorised outposts and the soldiers" in the unit.

In January 2023, the battalion was moved from the West Bank to the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Haaretz reported at the time that the decision was a result of the many abuses in which its soldiers used violence against Palestinian civilians.

However, since the war on Gaza, Netzah Yehuda has been redeployed to the West Bank and Gaza.