The Biden administration has said that Israel’s use of US-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented US officials from determining that for certain in specific air strikes.

The administration’s findings of “reasonable” evidence to conclude that its ally had breached international law in its conduct of the war in Gaza, released in a summary of a report being delivered to Congress on Friday, represent the strongest such statement from Biden officials.

But its caveat that it was unable immediately to link specific US weapons to individual strikes by Israeli forces in Gaza could give the administration leeway in any future decision on whether to restrict US provisions of offensive weapons to Israel.

The administration’s findings, a first-of-its-kind assessment that was compelled by President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats in Congress, come after seven months of air strikes, ground fighting and aid restrictions that have claimed the lives of nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.