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It was one of the harshest US warnings since the war began, a day after the US said it had told Israel that it could cut off military supplies if it did not allow more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. There was no official response from the Israeli government.
COGAT, the Israeli government agency that oversees policy in Gaza and the West Bank, insists it does not restrict aid to Gaza and accuses humanitarian agencies of not distributing supplies to the enclave after vetting them. On Wednesday, the government said it had inspected 50 aid trucks carrying food, water, medical supplies and other supplies “in accordance with international law” and allowed them to enter northern Gaza from Jordan.
This is just a fraction of the funding that aid agencies say is needed to offset the dire hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip, especially in the north, and Israel has ramped up military operations in the Gaza Strip this month, calling it a “siege.” ”, the United Nations announced. Hamas.
The United Nations World Food Program said this week that in northern Gaza, “people are helpless, food systems are collapsing and the risk of starvation is real.”
On Sunday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken sent a letter to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, saying Israel has 30 days to said. The US, which is Israel's main military supplier, may consider cutting off aid to Gaza or Israel's military aid.
The letter, obtained by The New York Times, says the humanitarian situation is “increasingly dire.” It also allows the Israeli government to halt commercial imports, prevent aid workers from moving from south to north of Gaza, confine residents to a narrow coastal strip, and create onerous procedures to vet what aid enters the enclave. It is criticized for doing so.
The letter states that Israel will allow a minimum of 350 aid trucks per day and take other measures to allow people trapped in so-called humanitarian zones along the coast to move inland before winter. said that it should be done.
Michael Hanna, U.S. program director at the International Crisis Group think tank, said the letter appears to be a departure from the U.S. approach of “coaxing” the Israeli government into authorizing additional aid.
That would give the administration “the possibility of serious talks” with Israel about aid. But Hanna said some Israeli policymakers are likely to view the final outcome as an affirmation of the status quo.
Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said one of the letter’s striking elements was its warning that the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act prohibits military assistance to any country that restricts the provision of humanitarian aid. said. He said references to U.S. legal obligations would increase “political influence” in Israel.
The British government has stepped up pressure, urging Israel to protect civilians and keep aid routes open. An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was convened on Wednesday to discuss the issue.
At the meeting, UN Acting Director for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Musuya told the Council that action was needed to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“The level of suffering in Gaza is such that words cannot capture it or understand its scale,” she said. “The reality in Gaza is cruel and the situation worsens by the day as bombs continue to be dropped, heavy fighting continues unabated, and essential supplies for survival and humanitarian assistance are blocked at every turn. ”
Aid workers say extreme hunger has worsened in Gaza in recent months. The 30-day deadline was set after the U.S. presidential election and could make it politically easier for President Biden to take tougher action against Israel than he has previously wanted.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Tuesday that aid to Gaza is “down more than 50 percent from its peak” during the war. According to COGAT statistics, at least 465 relief trucks entered Gaza in the first half of October, compared to around 2,500 during the same period last month.
A total of 145 aid trucks entered Gaza through the north-south border crossing on Tuesday, according to COGAT. It added that 610 aid trucks allowed into Gaza were “waiting for collection” within the enclave.
A truck waits to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing in September. Credit…Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters
Aid groups say the Israeli military is making it difficult to distribute what little aid has entered Gaza by often refusing to allow convoys to pass through Israeli checkpoints and sometimes opening fire on them. There is. In addition, Israel’s invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah in May led to the closure of a border crossing, one of the main aid routes.
“They have not been in a good place at all in recent months,” Juliet Touma, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, the United Nations’ main agency assisting Palestinians, said in an interview on Tuesday.
The letter from the United States is important evidence that Israel’s Knesset is diplomatically supporting UNRWA as it considers a bill that would recognize the organization as a terrorist organization. The letter says the United States is deeply concerned about this bill and the restrictions on UNRWA that will devastate the humanitarian response at a critical moment.
In June, a global panel of experts announced that nearly 500,000 Gazans were facing hunger due to catastrophic food shortages. This also makes it difficult for people to recover from illness and war-related injuries, with health systems devastated by conflict.
“The medical need is overwhelming,” the medical charity Doctors Without Borders said on Tuesday.
Aaron Boxerman and Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting.
