US pushes Israel on Gaza humanitarian aid

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United States has given Israel a 30-day ultimatum to improve humanitarian aid access in Gaza or face potential cuts in military assistance, reports the BBC.

A letter, sent to Israel on Sunday, marks the strongest written warning from the US amid ongoing military actions in northern Gaza, which have resulted in significant civilian casualties.

The US expressed deep concerns over the worsening humanitarian crisis, noting that Israel impeded nearly 90 percent of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza last month.

An Israeli official stated the country was reviewing the letter and took the matter seriously, with intentions to address the concerns raised by the US.

While Israel maintains its military operations target Hamas operatives and do not obstruct humanitarian aid, the situation remains critical.

On Monday, the Israeli military body managing crossings into Gaza, Cogat, reported 30 trucks carrying aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) entered northern Gaza through the Erez crossing, ending a two-week period without food aid.

The UN says Gaza is in a state of "constant peak emergency," with essential supplies running dangerously low for the 400,000 Palestinians in the north.

Antoine Renard, head of the WFP in the occupied Palestinian territories, confirmed that many in the north relied solely on UN assistance, with little access to fresh food.

The US letter, confirmed by the State Department, was signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, urging Israel to take urgent actions to address the humanitarian situation.

At a news conference in Washington on Tuesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that the letter was "a private diplomatic communication that we did not intend to make public".

He added: "Secretary [Blinken] along with Secretary Austin thought it was appropriate to make clear to the government of Israel that there are changes they need to make again to see the level of assistance making it into Gaza comes back up."

Miller declined to speculate on what consequences there might be for Israel if it did not boost humanitarian aid access in the embattled enclave.

But he noted: "Recipients of US military assistance do not arbitrarily deny or impede provisioning of US humanitarian assistance. That’s just the law and we of course will follow the law. But our hope is that Israel will make the changes that we have outlined."

He also said the 30-day time limit was not linked to the upcoming US presidential election on 5 November, saying it was "appropriate to give them time to work through the different issues".

sa/mud