US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel should take steps next month to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza to avoid legal action related to US military aid, according to news reports and sources.
“We are now writing to underscore the US 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 trend,” they wrote in an October 13 letter to their Israeli counterparts. Posted by an Axios reporter on X on Tuesday.
An Israeli News Channel 12 correspondent first reported the contents of the message on X.
Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Reuters the authenticity of the message.
The State Department and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the letter. Representatives of the Israeli government could not immediately be reached for comment.
Washington has repeatedly pressured Israel to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza since the conflict with Hamas began with the Palestinian movement’s attacks on southern Israel a little more than a year ago, but the Biden administration has not imposed restrictions on the military aid that the United States sends to Israel. .
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These reports come as Israeli forces expand their operations in northern Gaza amid continuing concerns about humanitarian access throughout the Strip and civilian access to food, water and medicine.
Reuters reported earlier this month that food supplies have fallen sharply since Israeli authorities imposed a new customs rule on some humanitarian aid and were separately scaling back deliveries organized by companies.
The United States told the UN Security Council last week that Israel needs to urgently address “catastrophic conditions” among Palestinian civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip and stop “intensifying the suffering” by limiting aid deliveries.
The ministers’ letter outlined specific steps that Israel must take within 30 days, including enabling at least 350 trucks to enter Gaza daily, halting fighting to allow aid to be delivered, and canceling evacuation orders for Palestinian civilians when operations are no longer needed.
“Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures could have implications for U.S. policy…and relevant U.S. law,” the letter said.
She cited Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits the provision of military aid to countries that obstruct the delivery of US humanitarian aid.
It also cited a national security memorandum issued by US President Joe Biden in February requiring the State Department to report to Congress on whether it finds credible Israeli assurances that its use of US weapons does not violate US or international law.
US officials said earlier this year that Israel may have violated international humanitarian law by using US-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza.
