The US has sent a letter to Israel, giving it 30 days to improve humanitarian aid access in Gaza or face potential cuts to some US military assistance.
Sent on Sunday, this letter is the strongest written warning from the US to its ally amid a renewed Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, which has reportedly resulted in numerous civilian casualties.
The letter expresses deep concerns about the worsening humanitarian situation, noting that Israel denied or obstructed nearly 90% of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza last month.
An Israeli official stated that Israel is reviewing the letter, adding that the country “takes this matter seriously” and plans to “address the concerns raised” with US officials.
Israel has maintained that its military actions target Hamas operatives in the north and that it is not preventing humanitarian aid entry.
On Monday, Cogat, the Israeli military body overseeing crossings into Gaza, announced that 30 trucks carrying aid from the World Food Programme had entered northern Gaza through the Erez crossing. This ended a two-week period during which the UN reported no food aid was delivered to the north, leaving 400,000 Palestinians there with dwindling essential supplies.
A UN official described Gaza as being in a state of “constant peak emergency.”
Antoine Renard, head of the World Food Programme (WFP) in the occupied Palestinian territories, told AFP that people in northern Gaza were “relying solely on assistance,” with virtually no access to fresh food aside from what UN agencies provide.
The US remains the largest arms supplier to Israel, and the Israeli military has heavily depended on US-supplied aircraft, guided bombs, missiles, and shells in its ongoing conflict with Hamas over the past year.
The US letter to the Israeli government, confirmed by the State Department, was first reported by Axios and is signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“We are now writing to underscore the US government’s deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory,” it says.
It states that Israeli evacuation orders have forced 1.7 million people into the narrow, coastal al-Mawasi area, where they are at “high risk of lethal contagion” due to extreme overcrowding, and that humanitarian organizations report that their survival needs cannot be met.
“We are particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government – including halting commercial imports, denying or impeding nearly 90% of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza in September, continuing burdensome and excessive dual-use restrictions, and instituting new vetting and onerous liability and customs requirements for humanitarian staff and shipments – together with increased lawlessness and looting – are contributing to an accelerated deterioration in the conditions in Gaza,” it adds.
The letter states that Israel “must, starting now and within 30 days,” implement a series of concrete measures to increase aid supplies, warning that failure to do so may “have implications for US policy.”
It references US laws that can restrict military assistance to countries that obstruct the delivery of US humanitarian aid.
The letter emphasizes that Israel must “surge all forms of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza” before winter, which includes allowing a minimum of 350 trucks per day to enter through all four major crossings, as well as a new fifth crossing, and facilitating the movement of people in al-Mawasi inland.
Additionally, it urges Israel to end the “isolation of northern Gaza” by affirming that there will be “no Israeli government policy of forced evacuation of civilians” from the north to the south.
During a news conference in Washington on Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that the letter was “a private diplomatic communication that we did not intend to make public.”...Read Full Article [Click Here>]
“Secretary [Blinken] along with Secretary Austin thought it was appropriate to make clear to the government of Israel that there are changes they need to make again to see the level of assistance making it into Gaza comes back up,” he said.
Miller declined to speculate on what consequences there might be for Israel if it did not boost humanitarian aid access, but noted: “Recipients of US military assistance do not arbitrarily deny or impede provisioning of US humanitarian assistance. That’s just the law and we of course will follow the law. But our hope is that Israel will make the changes that we have outlined.”
He also stated that the 30-day time limit was not linked to the upcoming US presidential election on 5 November, saying it was “appropriate to give them time to work through the different issues.”
Israel has previously insisted there are no limits to the amount of aid or humanitarian assistance that can be delivered into and across Gaza, blaming UN agencies for failing to distribute supplies. It also accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.
Before Israel’s ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in May, President Joe Biden suspended a shipment of 2,000 and 500-pound bombs for the first time in an effort to dissuade Israel from launching an all-out assault.
However, the president faced immediate backlash from Republicans in Washington and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who likened the action to an “arms embargo.” The suspension was partially lifted in July and has not been reinstated.
On Tuesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that families in northern Gaza are “facing unimaginable fear, loss of loved ones, confusion, and exhaustion” due to the Israeli offensive that began 10 days ago.
The Israeli military has reported deploying tanks and troops back into the town of Jabalia and its urban refugee camp for a third time to eliminate Hamas fighters who have regrouped there. They have ordered residents of Jabalia, as well as neighboring Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, to evacuate to the al-Mawasi “humanitarian area.”
The UN estimates that about 50,000 people have fled to Gaza City and other areas in the north. However, many are unable to leave their homes due to safety concerns or because they are sick or disabled.
Khalid, a Jabalia resident whose experiences over the past year are featured in a new BBC documentary, shared in a voice note that he and his family have been living in fear for the past week.
“We were told to go to the south, but we couldn’t because the Israeli army has surrounded the area, either with dirt barricades or using quadcopter drones. We can’t move, it’s too difficult.”
“At the same time, because of the intense bombing we’re living in constant terror. My daughter has become sick and she has a fever. Her entire body is shaking in fear because of the sound of the bombings and I don’t know what to do with her. I can’t even take her to the hospital,” he added.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said its first responders had recovered the bodies of 42 people killed by Israeli air and artillery strikes in Jabalia and neighboring areas on Tuesday.
They reportedly included 11 members of the same family, nearly all of them women and children, whose home was destroyed in an air strike overnight.
The Israeli military announced on Tuesday that its troops had killed “dozens of terrorists” in the Jabalia area over the previous day.
On Monday, Israeli human rights groups raised concerns about what they termed “alarming signs” indicating that the Israeli military is beginning to quietly implement the Generals’ Plan, which aligns with widespread Palestinian apprehensions.
This controversial plan proposes the forcible transfer of all civilians from northern Gaza, followed by a siege of any remaining Hamas fighters to compel their surrender and secure the release of Israeli hostages.
