Washington DC - The US State Department on Monday confirmed it identified "gross violations of human rights" by five Israeli military units before the start of the Gaza war on October 7.

"We found five Israeli units responsible for individual incidents of gross violations of human rights. All of these were incidents much before October 7, and none took place in Gaza," Deputy US State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel said in response to a question in Washington.

"Four of these units have effectively remediated these violations, which is what we expect partners to do," Patel added.

Regarding the fifth battalion, the Israeli government had shared "additional information" with the US and the two governments are still having conversations about it.

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Reports suggest that the ongoing investigation is likely to be into the Israel's ultra-orthodox battalion Netzah Yehuda.

Patel did not say what kind of human rights violations were involved.

Last week, ABC News reported that the US had abandoned plans to sanction Israeli military units for their actions against civilians in the West Bank.

According to the report, Israel had promised to take measures to remedy abuses, the broadcaster reported, citing a letter from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Patel did not say whether sanctions were still being considered. However, he emphasized that restrictions on US aid are generally possible if US requirements are not met.

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On February 8, US President Joe Biden demanded written assurances from foreign governments that no human rights would be violated with military aid from the US.

The State Department must inform Congress of the process in a report – the deadline for this is May 8. Countries whose US aid has been authorized by Congress and which are currently involved in an armed conflict, including Israel, are affected. If the assurances are not provided within a certain timeframe, military support is to be interrupted.

Reuters recently reported that Blinken had repeatedly ignored memos from officials alerting him to "serious concern over non-compliance" by Israel with international humanitarian law during its war on Gaza, which has killed well over 34,000 Palestinians and created a catastrophic famine.