US Gives Israel 30 Days To Address Gaza Aid Crisis, Threatens To Curb Weapons Supply

The United States has warned Israel that it must increase the amount of humanitarian aid it is allowing into Gaza within the next 30 days or it could risk losing access to its weapons funding.

In a letter sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Washington warned their Israeli counterparts that the changes must occur. The letter, which restates US policy toward humanitarian aid and arms transfers, was sent amid deteriorating conditions in northern Gaza.

“In fact, it’s fallen by over 50% from where it was at its peak,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a briefing. Blinken and Austin “thought it was appropriate to make clear to the government of Israel that there are changes that they need to make again, to see that the level of assistance making it into Gaza comes back up from the very, very low levels that it is at today.”

350 trucks a day

Miller said Tuesday that a similar letter that Blinken sent to Israeli officials in April led to more humanitarian assistance getting to the Palestinian territory.

For Israel to continue qualifying for foreign military financing, the level of aid getting into Gaza must increase to at least 350 trucks a day, Israel must institute additional humanitarian pauses and provide increased security for humanitarian sites, Austin and Blinken said in their letter.

They said Israel had 30 days to respond to the requirements. “The letter was not meant as a threat,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “The letter was simply meant to reiterate the sense of urgency we feel and the seriousness with which we feel it, about the need for an increase, a dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance.”

Offensive operations against Hamas

The letter, which an Axios reporter posted a copy of online, was sent during a period of growing frustration in the administration that despite repeated and increasingly vocal requests to scale back offensive operations against Hamas, Israel’s bombardment has led to unnecessary civilian deaths and risks plunging the region into a much wider war.

“We are particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government, including halting commercial imports, denying or impeding 90 percent of humanitarian movements” and other restrictions have kept aid from flowing, Blinken and Austin said.

Washington is increasing its calls for its ally and biggest recipient of U.S. military aid to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza while assuring that America’s support for Israel is unwavering just before the presidential election in three weeks. Funding for Israel has long carried weight in American politics, and Biden said this month that “no administration has helped Israel more than I have.”

Humanitarian aid groups fear that Israeli leaders may approve a plan to seal off humanitarian aid to northern Gaza in an attempt to starve out Hamas, which could trap hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are unwilling or unable to leave their homes without food, water, medicine and fuel.

Humanitarian Situation

UN humanitarian officials said last week that aid entering Gaza is at its lowest level in months. The three hospitals operating minimally in northern Gaza are facing “dire shortages” of fuel, trauma supplies, medications and blood, and while meals are being delivered each day, food is dwindling, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

“There is barely any food left to distribute, and most bakeries will be forced to shut down again in just days without any additional fuel,” he said. The U.N. humanitarian office reported that Israeli authorities facilitated just one of its 54 efforts to get to the north this month, Dujarric said. He said 85% of the requests were denied, with the rest impeded or canceled for logistical or security reasons. COGAT, the Israeli body facilitating aid crossings into Gaza, denied that crossings to the north have been closed.

Netanyahu Warns

Israel’s retaliatory offensive since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas has killed over 42,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians but has said a little more than half the dead are women and children. The Hamas attacks killed some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and militants abducted another 250.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Tuesday the idea of a ceasefire in Lebanon that would leave Hezbollah close to his country’s northern border, as the militant group threatened to widen its attacks. Netanyahu’s comments came as the United States ramped up pressure over Israel’s conduct of the wars in Lebanon and Gaza.

(With agency inputs)