The Biden administration has warned Israel that its actions in Gaza could threaten future U.S. military aid to the Jewish state.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken jointly wrote a letter, dated Sunday, to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer in which they expressed their concerns about the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
“We are now writing to underscore the U.S. 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,” the U.S. secretaries said, noting that their departments “must continually assess your government’s adherence” to their previous assurances that they would not block aid from getting into the Gaza Strip.
Biden administration officials have repeatedly urged Israel to allow more humanitarian get into the enclave while continuing to provide them with military aid over the last year. Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas was prompted by the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the Jewish state that left about 1,200 people dead. Hamas also kidnapped another 250 people, about 100 of whom are still being held in Gaza.
Advocates for Palestinians have urged the administration to use its leverage as a major provider of military aid more forcefully in getting Israel to do what it wants as it relates to Palestinian aid.
The secretaries gave Israel 30 days to “reverse the downward humanitarian trajectory and consistency with its assurances to us” and warned that “failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and gaining these measures may have implications for U.S. policy” under relevant law.
The expiration of that 30-day window will occur after the U.S. elections have taken place. The Biden administration, and by extension, Vice President Kamala Harris, has faced criticism from Arab Americans who feel like the administration has not done enough to help Palestinians caught in the war. Arab American and progressive voters in swing states, including Michigan, could determine whether she wins the necessary 270 electoral votes or if former President Donald Trump will serve a second term.
The new letter indicates the United States’s continued concerns about the lack of aid despite Israel’s previous assurances.
International officials warned recently that the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza is getting worse as those Palestinians feel the impacts of the little aid getting to them.
Last week, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the department had not made the “assessment at this time” that Israel is blocking the delivery of aid, “but that goes to the point that it is urgent that they correct the situation and allow humanitarian aid to get in.”
Israel’s parliament heard a plan from retired generals last month that consisted of calling for civilians to evacuate from the northern part of the strip, which they have done several times already, and seal that area off from aid to effectively starve Hamas out of necessities. Netanyahu was said to be considering the plan, but Gallant told Austin over the weekend that Israel would not implement the plan, according to Axios.
The U.S. Agency for International Development and the department’s refugees bureau delivered its assessment that Israel had been deliberately blocking the delivery of food and medicine into Gaza in April, ProPublica reported in late September, but Blinken rejected it. If the secretary agreed with the assessment, it would have required the U.S. to stop weapons shipments to Israel because U.S. law requires it to cut off military aid to countries that block the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid.
“We had a report to put out on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and what Israel was doing to try to make sure that people got the assistance they needed, and I had different assessments from different parts of the State Department, from other agencies that were involved like USAID,” Blinken explained at the time. “My job is to sort through them, which I did, draw some conclusions from that, and we put out our report. “And we found that Israel needed to do a better job on the humanitarian assistance. We’ve seen improvements since then. It’s still not sufficient.”
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