30-day deadline to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza, US asserts on Israel

Washington| The U.S. has asked Israel to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza within the next 30 days. If this does not happen, American help has been warned to be stopped. According to the Joe Biden administration, the US Secretary of State and Defense co-signed a letter in this regard last week which was sent to their Israeli counterparts.

During a press briefing Tuesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed the signing of the letter by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin. The letter was addressed to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. Miller said the letter was intended to ‘clarify our concerns about humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza.’ He added that the U.S. considers the letter ‘a private diplomatic communication that we for our part did not want to make public.’

The letter warned that if Israel failed to provide more humanitarian aid to Gazans, it could be accused of violating US laws governing foreign military aid, according to a CNN report. If this happens, US military aid to Israel may be in danger. According to Xinhua news agency, the letter said that under US laws, the foreign and defense departments have to constantly assess whether Israel is following its assurances that it will not restrict aid flows into Gaza.

The 30-day period given by the U.S. means that if Israel does not heed the U.S. warnings, any action on the part of the U.S. will follow the U.S. presidential election, scheduled for Nov. 5. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Biden administration had also sent a letter to Israel in April ‘making a similar request for concrete steps regarding humanitarian aid.’

Kirby said the latest letter is linked to a ‘recent reduction’ in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. “But it is not that we have not previously communicated these concerns in writing to the Israelis”, he said.