Israel says it is reviewing a letter from US urging improvement in Gaza humanitarian situation
Israel is reviewing a letter sent by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken and defense secretary Lloyd Austin calling on Tel Aviv,
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to improve Gaza’s humanitarian situation or risk losing US military aid
Reuters cites an Israeli official as saying,
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Israel takes this matter seriously and intends to address the concerns raised in this letter with our American counterparts
This comes after Blinken and Austin warned their Israeli counterparts in a letter dated Sunday 13 October 2024 that
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Israel must ease humanitarian suffering in the territory by lifting restrictions on the entry of assistance within 30 days
The letter, which restates US policy toward humanitarian aid and arms transfers, was sent amid deteriorating conditions in northern Gaza and an Israeli airstrike on a hospital tent site in central Gaza that killed at least four people and burned others
A similar letter that Blinken sent to Israeli officials in April 2024 led to more humanitarian assistance getting to the Palestinian territory, state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday
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"But that has not lasted. In fact, it’s fallen by over 50% from where it was at its peak”
Miller said at a briefing, the Associated Press reported
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Austin and Blinken: “thought it was appropriate to make clear to the government of Israel that there are changes that they need to make again, to see that the level of assistance making it into Gaza comes back up from the very, very low levels that it is at today”
first reported by Axios, Austin and Blinken said in their letter, for Israel to continue qualifying for foreign military financing, 1. Israel must lift restrictions on the entry of assistance within 30 days 2. the level of aid getting into Gaza must increase to at least 350 trucks a day 3. Israel must institute additional humanitarian pauses 4. and provide increased security for humanitarian sites
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters,
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“The letter was not meant as a threat”
“The letter was simply meant to reiterate the sense of urgency we feel and the seriousness with which we feel it, about the need for an increase, a dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance”
