The Israeli government has not met the U.S.-administered goals of getting more humanitarian aid into Gaza, according to the United Nations and several humanitarian aid organizations.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote a letter to Israeli leaders giving them 30 days to improve the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. That deadline comes this week, and officials from both departments have repeatedly said since the letter was sent that the Israelis have made some progress but not enough.
Louise Wateridge, senior emergency coordinator for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, also said what Israel has done has not been enough to meet the Biden administration’s demands.
“There is not enough aid here,” she told the BBC. “There are not enough supplies. People are starving in some areas. People are very hungry. They are fighting over bags of flour. There are just not enough supplies.”
Israel’s government has passed legislation to bar the UNRWA from operating in Israel’s territory, while the U.S. and the U.N. have criticized the ban and argued that the UNRWA is the only organization equipped and already in place to help Palestinians affected by the war. Israeli leaders have accused the UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas, and a handful of UNRWA staffers have been tied to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack that started the war.
A collection of eight humanitarian aid organizations released a joint report Tuesday arguing that Israel’s actions over the last month have actually “dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in northern Gaza.”
The group’s findings “underscore Israel’s failure to comply with U.S. demands and international obligations,” according to the report. “Israel should be held accountable for the end result of failing to ensure the adequate provision of food, medical, and other supplies to reach people in need.”
Israel restarted operating at a previously closed crossing, known as the Kissufim crossing, on Tuesday.
The U.S. secretaries warned in their letter that Israel’s failure to comply could result in a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel due to relevant law. Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act requires that the president halt military assistance to any foreign government that restricts U.S. humanitarian aid.
Specifically, Austin and Blinken called on Israel 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.
At a press briefing last week, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. has made clear to the Israeli government that “there are potential legal and policy considerations from failure to improve the humanitarian assistance situation in Gaza and implement a number of the steps that we outlined in the letter.” He added that “we are in active discussion with them, including in the past several days, about steps that they have taken and what more that they need to do. And we’ll make an assessment when we get to the end of the period.”
It is unclear how this could play out, given that the Biden administration is now positioned as a lame-duck government, which will only be in power until mid-January 2025. The prevailing perception is that the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, preferred Trump to win the 2024 presidential election, believing that his administration would be more supportive than the alternative.
Israel heavily relies on the U.S. for military support.
The U.S. and Israel have repeatedly clashed over the humanitarian conditions in Gaza over the course of the war, even as the Biden administration has remained supportive of its overarching goal of removing Hamas from power and crippling the U.S.-designated terrorist organization determined to bring about Israel’s demise. The Biden administration, while continuing to provide them with billions of dollars of military aid, has urged Israeli forces to do more to prevent the deaths of Palestinian civilians and to allow more necessities to get into the strip, while Israel has faced allegations, that it denies, of stopping aid from getting into Gaza.
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Once aid has arrived along Gaza’s borders, humanitarian workers have had difficulties getting it to the civilians who need it most. Hundreds of aid workers have been killed during the war, while terrorist groups and gangs have also tried to divert the aid for themselves.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog is in the U.S. this week and will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. Also on Tuesday, Blinken will meet with Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer.