The Pentagon confirmed that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary Antony Blinken co-signed a letter to their Israeli counterparts expressing concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza though its spokesperson refused to provide any further information regarding the contents of the letter.
Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh doubled down that the letter was meant to be private correspondence and not intended for public consumption.
“Someone obviously felt the need to get out this private correspondence, but I’m just not going to be able to get into more details on that,” Singh said. “We didn’t know it was going to get out. It was meant to be a private conversation.”
Singh reiterated that the administration has paused only one shipment of 2,000-lb bombs.
She added that just because there are other engagements happening in the region doesn’t mean that the administration has taken its eye off what’s happening in Gaza.
“We know that humanitarian aid still is stalling to get into Gaza and to reach civilians that need it desperately,” Singh said.
Singh confirmed that Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke twice over the weekend, their first calls since their canceled in-person meeting last week.
In calls, Austin continued to emphasize land routes are the best means to increase aid into Gaza and “raised concern for the dire humanitarian situation and stressed that steps must be taken soon to address it.”
LEBANON
In conversations with Gallant, Austin also “reinforced the importance of Israel taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of UN peacekeeping forces and Lebanese armed forces” and the need to “pivot away from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway to provide security for civilians on both sides of the border.”
The Pentagon has assessed Israel is still conducting operations to go after Hezbollah infrastructure along the northern border, Singh said.
“We expressed deep concern over what happened with those UN peacekeepers that were within Lebanon,” she said. “But that is still our assessment, that they are conducting operations against Hezbollah.”
Austin also reiterated the need to do more when it comes to protecting innocent civilians in Lebanon, she said.
THAAD
Reporters repeatedly pressed Singh over the Pentagon’s decision to send US forces to Israel and potentially in harm’s way should Iran launch another round of major missile strikes.
“Of course we’re concerned,” Singh said. “We don’t know what a response could look like, but we’re not going to also wait and find out.”
The Pentagon has taken force protection measures at its bases and has moved missile destroyers closer in the region to help Israel, she said, while acknowledging putting people on land is different.
A THAAD adds capability to Israel’s air defenses and can help shoot ballistic missiles should Iran choose to respond again with those, she said.
THAAD is also meant to be a temporary provision of air defense capabilities to better protect Israel and it’s in keeping with the United States’ intent to reduce tensions, according to Singh.
The only message that deploying the THAAD and United States personnel to Israel sends is that the US stands with Israel and their self-defense, Singh maintained.
“And that message has been clear from the beginning,” she said.