The US has set a 30-day deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on the supply of weapons in its strongest ultimatum since Benjamin Netanyahu launched the war on the besieged territory over a year ago.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken and defence secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to their Israeli counterparts demanding concrete measures to address the worsening humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave. The letter was sent even as the Israeli military bombed a hospital tent site in central Gaza, killing four people, at least one of whom was caught on video burning alive while still hooked to an IV line, according to reports.
The secretaries said Israel denied or impeded about 90 per cent of humanitarian movements between north and south Gaza last month. They were “particularly concerned” that “recent actions by the Israeli government” were “contributing to an accelerated deterioration in the conditions in Gaza”.
The letter cited Israel’s denial of most humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza and its “burdensome and excessive” restrictions on what goods could enter Gaza.
For Israel to continue receiving military financing, the secretaries outlined specific steps that the Netanyahu administration must take in 30 days.
They underlined the need to increase aid into Gaza to at least 350 trucks a day and for Israel to institute additional humanitarian pauses and provide increased security for these sites.
Failure to demonstrate “a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for US policy”, the letter said.
It cited Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act which prohibits sending military aid to any country that impedes delivery of US humanitarian assistance.
Israeli human rights groups have warned that their country was laying a siege to northern Gaza and starving the Palestinians who remained.
Groups Gisha, B’Tselem, PHR-I, and Yesh Din said over the weekend there were “alarming signs” that Israel was “quietly” starting to implement the “Generals’ Plan” to declare northern Gaza a closed military zone, the Financial Times reported.
The UN World Food Program said last week it was unable to deliver food to over a million Palestinians “due to constrained access of aid supplies”.
It further said that the main crossings into the north had been closed due to Israel’s renewed bombing campaign and that no food or essential supplies had entered the region since 1 October.
The Israeli military claimed it had not “halted the entry or coordination of humanitarian aid” in the north.
An Israeli official in Washington DC told Reuters that the letter by the US secretaries had been received and was being reviewed. “Israel takes this matter seriously and intends to address the concerns raised,” the official said.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the letter was not meant as “a threat” but reiterated the urgency of increasing humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
“However long overdue, this official warning that Israel must stop blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza or face a suspension of US military aid is an important and unprecedented signal that Israel has crossed even the Biden administration’s permissive red lines,” Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of nonprofit DAWN, told The Independent.
“We now need the Biden administration to show action, not just words, in enforcing US laws which prohibit aid to Israel given not only its relentless obstruction of humanitarian relief but deliberate starvation and incessant bombardment of Gaza’s civilians,” she said.
US officials said a similar letter sent by Mr Blinken in April had drawn a constructive response and resulted in “concrete measures from the Israelis”.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller claimed Israel made changes at the time that led to 300-400 aid trucks entering Gaza per day but that number had since fallen by over 50 per cent.
“We very much want to see changes not wait for 30 days but happen immediately,” Mr Miller said.
Israel’s year-long war in Gaza has killed about 42,300 Palestinians and wounded more than 99,000 others, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. It has since launched an assault on Lebanon and bombed Syria as well. Militant group Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October last year, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.
The Joe Biden administration appeared to balance its criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza with a show of military support by announcing on Sunday that it would send US troops and the advanced THAAD anti-missile weapons system to the country.