US warns Israel: Improve humanitarian situation in Gaza or face consequences

Washington (Quds News Network)- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have warned Israel to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, with a 30-day deadline, or risk a reassessment of US military support, in a detailed letter, leaked on Tuesday.

“In accordance with US law and policy, including National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), the departments of state and defense must continually assess your government’s adherence to your March 2024 assurances that Israel would ‘facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance and US government supported international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance’ to and within Gaza,” the letter read, which was addressed to Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, and obtained by Axios.

The NSM-20 report referred to in the letter was released in May and largely avoided making legal determinations on potential Israeli violations of international law.

Instead, it said Israel’s assurances about facilitating humanitarian aid were “credible and reliable” and that there were no grounds for suspending US weapons shipments.

The NSM-20 report also cited no violations of Section 620l of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits US military support to governments that withhold humanitarian aid.

Earlier this year, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and a State Department bureau alerted the Biden administration that Israel was subjecting humanitarian aid destined for Gaza to “arbitrary denial, restriction and impediments”.

However, a month after the USAID and State Department memo, Blinken delivered a State Department report to Congress with a different conclusion, ignoring the memo.

Now, a year into Israel’s genocide war in Gaza, Washington has said it wants to reassess the situation.

The letter also called for winter preparations that included allowing those who were forcibly displaced to “move inland” and an end to forced displacement from northern to southern Gaza.

It further urged Israel to remove the bureaucratic barriers that prevent certain drivers and goods from entering the strip.

Despite the US expressing doubts about the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) and its mission in Gaza, the letter advocated for the protection of the organization.

“We are deeply concerned about the potential adoption of Knesset legislation to remove certain privileges and immunities from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) and its staff, prohibit official contact with Unrwa, and change the status quo regarding Unrwa In Jerusalem,” the lettwr said.

“We urge you to take all positive steps… to ensure this does not come to pass.”

On Tuesday, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby insisted in a call with journalists that “the letter was not meant as a threat”.

Kirby also added that it simply reiterated a position the administration had communicated to Israel in the past.

At a press briefing, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also declined to say what the consequences of Israel failing to comply with US requests would be, or how this differs from an earlier, unfulfilled threat by the Biden administration to withhold military aid to Israel.

“I’m not gonna speak to that today,” Miller told reporters.

Miller also called the deadline a “short window”.

“We didn’t think it was appropriate to send a letter and just say this has to happen overnight,” he added. “We believe it’s appropriate to give them a chance to cure the problem.”

With three weeks remaining until the US presidential election, Miller pushed back against suggestions that the timing of the letter was designed to shift attention to the new president-elect by the time the deadline arrives, saying the election is “not a factor at all.”