The US has written to Israel, issuing them 30 days to improve humanitarian aid access in Gaza or risk having some US military assistance withdrawn.
The letter, received on Sunday, is the strongest known formal warning from the United States to its partner and comes during a new Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, which has reportedly resulted in a substantial number of civilian casualties.
It states that the United States is deeply concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation, noting that Israel denied or obstructed approximately 90% of humanitarian movements between the north and south last month.
Israel made no response, claiming that it is targeting Hamas operatives in the north rather than preventing humanitarian aid from entering the country.
On Monday, the Israeli organisation in charge of crossings into Gaza said that 30 trucks delivering World Food Programme aid had entered northern Gaza via the Erez gate.
This marked the conclusion of a two-week period in which the UN reported that no food aid was sent to the north and supplies critical for survival were running low for the 400,000 Palestinians there.
The United States is by far the largest provider of armaments to Israel, and the Israeli military has depended heavily on US-supplied planes, guided bombs, missiles, and shells to battle Hamas in Gaza during the last year.
The Axios website initially reported on the US letter to the Israeli government, the contents of which have since been confirmed by the State Department. The document is signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence 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 claims that Israeli evacuation orders have squeezed 1.7 million people into the narrow, coastal al-Mawasi area, where they face a “high risk of lethal contagion” due to extreme overcrowding, and that humanitarian agencies indicate that their survival needs cannot be provided.
“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 says Israel “must, starting now and within 30 days,” act on a series of concrete measures to boost aid supplies, adding that failure may “have implications for US policy.”.
It states that Israel must “surge all forms of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza” before winter, including letting at least 350 trucks per day enter through all four major crossings and a new fifth crossing, as well as allowing people in al-Mawasi to relocate inland.
It further urges Israel to cease the “isolation of northern Gaza” by stating unequivocally that there will be “no Israeli government policy of forced evacuation of civilians” from north to south.
At a news conference in Washington on Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated that the letter was “a private diplomatic communication that we did not intend to make public.”.
“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 come back up,” he said.
However, Miller declined to speculate on what consequences there might be for Israel if it did not boost humanitarian aid access.
But he mentioned, “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 related to the forthcoming US presidential election on November 5 and that it was “appropriate to give them time to work through the various issues.”
Israel initiated a campaign to eradicate Hamas in reaction to the group’s unprecedented onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed over 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 more.
More than 42,340 people have died in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
