The US gives Israel 30 days to increase aid to Gaza or risk cuts in military support

The United States wrote to Israel giving it 30 days to increase humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip or face cutting off some American military aid.

The letter, sent on Sunday, is the strongest known written warning from the United States to its ally and comes amid a new Israeli offensive in the northern Gaza Strip that has reportedly caused a high number of civilian casualties.

It said the United States was deeply concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation, adding that Israel denied or obstructed nearly 90% of humanitarian movements between the north and south last month.

There was no comment from Israel, which said it was targeting Hamas operatives in the north and was not stopping the flow of humanitarian aid.

On Monday, the Israeli military authority responsible for managing the Gaza crossings, Cogat, said 30 trucks carrying aid from the World Food Program had entered northern Gaza through the Erez crossing.

This ended a two-week period during which the UN concluded that no food aid had been delivered to the north and that survival supplies for the 400,000 Palestinians there were running out.

The United States is by far Israel's largest arms supplier, and the Israeli military has relied heavily on U.S.-supplied planes, guided bombs, rockets and missiles over the past year to fight Hamas in Gaza.

The American letter to the Israeli government – the content of which has now been confirmed by the Department of State – was first reported by Axios. It was signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

“We write now to emphasize the U.S. government's deep concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and to ask your government to take urgent and sustained action this month to reverse this trajectory,” it says.

It states that Israeli evacuation orders have forced 1.7 million people to move to the narrow coastal area of ​​al-Mawasi, where they are at “high risk of fatal infection” due to extreme overcrowding, and that humanitarian organizations report that their needs in survival needs cannot be satisfied.

“We are particularly concerned about the recent actions of the Israeli government – ​​including the suspension of commercial imports, the denial or obstruction of nearly 90% of humanitarian movements between north and south Gaza in September, continued burdensome and excessive dual-use restrictions, and the introduction of new verification procedures and burdensome accountability requirements and tariffs on humanitarian personnel and transports – along with increasing lawlessness and looting – are contributing to the accelerated deterioration of conditions in Gaza,” he adds.

The letter states that Israel “must start now and within 30 days” take a series of concrete measures to increase aid deliveries, adding that a failure could “have consequences for U.S. policy.”

He cites U.S. regulations that may prohibit military aid to countries that impede the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid.

It states that Israel must “increase all forms of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza” before winter, including allowing a minimum of 350 trucks per day to enter through all four main border crossings and a new fifth crossing, as well as allowing residents of al-Mawasi to move into inland.

It also calls on Israel to end the “isolation of northern Gaza”, confirming that “there will be no Israeli government policy of forced evacuation of civilians” from north to south.

At a Tuesday news conference in Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters the letter was “private diplomatic correspondence that we did not intend to make public.”

“Secretary (Blinken) and Secretary Austin have seen fit to make clear to the government of Israel that they need to make changes again in order for the level of aid reaching Gaza to return,” he said.

Miller declined to speculate on the consequences for Israel if it does not increase access to humanitarian aid.

However, he noted: “Recipients of U.S. military assistance do not arbitrarily refuse or impede the delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance. This is the law and of course we will obey it. “But we hope that Israel will make the changes we have outlined.”

He also said the 30-day deadline is not related to the upcoming US presidential election scheduled for November 5, stating that “it is appropriate to give them time to think about various issues.”

Israel has previously insisted there is no limit to the amount of humanitarian aid that can be delivered to and through Gaza, and blames UN agencies for the failure to distribute supplies. He also accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.

Before Israel's ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in May, President Joe Biden first suspended a single batch of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs in an attempt to dissuade it from an all-out attack.

However, the president immediately faced a sharp response from Republicans in Washington and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who appeared to compare it to an “arms embargo.” The suspension was partially lifted in July and has not been repeated.

On Tuesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that families in northern Gaza “face unimaginable fear, loss of loved ones, confusion and exhaustion” because of the Israeli offensive that began 10 days ago.

The Israeli military says it has sent tanks and soldiers back to the town of Jabalia and its urban refugee camp for the third time to root out Hamas fighters who have regrouped there.

It ordered residents of Jabalia, as well as neighboring Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, to evacuate to the al-Mawasi “humanitarian area”.

The UN says about 50,000 people have fled to Gaza and other parts of the north. However, many find it unsafe to leave their homes or are unable to do so due to illness or disability.

Khalid, a Jabalia resident whose accounts of the past year are featured in a new BBC documentaryhe said in a voice note that he and his family had been living in fear for a week.

“We were told to go south, but we couldn't because the Israeli army had surrounded the area, either with earthen barricades or with quadcopter drones. We can't move, it's too hard.

“At the same time, due to intense bombing, we live in constant terror. My daughter is sick and has a fever. Her whole body is shaking with fear from the sounds of the bombing and I don't know what to do with her. I can't even take her to the hospital,” he added.

The Hamas-led Civil Defense Agency in Gaza said its first responders on Tuesday recovered the bodies of 42 people killed by Israeli air and artillery attacks in Jabalia and neighboring areas.

They were reportedly 11 members of the same family, almost all of them women and children, whose home was destroyed in the overnight raid.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that its soldiers had killed “dozens of terrorists” in the Jabalia area the previous day.

On Monday, Israeli human rights groups warned of what they called “alarming signs that the Israeli military is beginning to quietly implement the Generals' Plan.”reflecting widespread Palestinian concerns.

The controversial plan calls for the forcible transfer of all civilians in the north, followed by a siege of the remaining Hamas fighters to force their surrender and the release of the Israeli hostages.

The Israeli military denies this is being implemented, claiming it only “rescues civilians from danger”.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

More than 42,340 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-led health ministry.