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56287 |
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Date: November 08, 2024 at 06:08:21
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Deadline: US says Israel failing in aid efforts. What happens now? |
URL: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-letter-israel-aid/ |
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nothing, probably.
Deadline: US says Israel failing in aid efforts. What happens now?
"The administration gave Israel until Nov. 12 to open up Gaza to food and basics
like medicine.
SAM BULL
NOV 08, 2024
We are just a few days away from the Nov. 12 deadline set out by the
administration to key Israeli leaders, demanding the improvement of humanitarian
conditions in Gaza under the threat of withdrawing military aid.
While the State Department acknowledged this week that Israel has so far failed
to make any such progress, it has yet to back up its initial warning or outline what
the consequences for Israel might be.
Blinken and Austin’s Oct. 13 letter demands entry of at least 350 food trucks into
Gaza per day, among other requirements. Using UN data, the BBC reported last
week that only 35 aid trucks entered Gaza per day in the first three weeks of
October — the lowest recorded average since the start of the war last year.
According to PBS, Blinken told reporters Nov. 1 that the U.S. has been closely
following Israel’s adherence to the letter’s demands.
“There’s been progress, but it’s insufficient, and we’re working on a daily basis to
make sure Israel does what it must do to ensure that this assistance gets to
people who need it inside of Gaza,” he said.
Recent comments from the State Department, however, make it unclear how the
U.S. is assessing Israeli action — or lack thereof — on the administration’s letter.
“We are not at the end, where we are able to make an assessment. But I can tell
you the situation has not been good enough for some time, and the situation has
not improved sufficiently in [the three weeks] since we sent that letter. There is
still a week or so to go until we reach the end of the period, but there is much
more that we need to see them do,” State Department spokesperson Matthew
Miller said in a Nov. 4 press briefing.
In the 30-day window the U.S. outlined in the letter, Israel has not only failed to
improve the flow of humanitarian aid in Gaza, but also formally voided its 1967
contract with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
in the Near East (UNRWA) — ending operations for the largest provider of aid to
Palestinian refugees.
This move follows the near-unanimous passage of two bills last week by the
Knesset, Israel’s legislative body, which banned the agency from any activities in
Israel or its controlled areas and labeled the UNRWA a “terror group.”
UNRWA said on Monday that the operational ban will lead to a “collapse” of
humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip. The agency distributes aid, runs shelters
and maintains key infrastructure in Gaza and has distributed food parcels to over
1.9 million Palestinians since the war began.
Even before UNRWA’s termination, conditions in Gaza had been growing
increasingly dire. The UN World Food Program warned last week that there could
soon be widespread famine in the enclave if immediate humanitarian progress is
not made. A recent report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification
(IPC) documenting conditions from June to September said that 96% of Gaza’s
population is facing acute food insecurity and over 22% are experiencing “an
extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities.”
Miller said the administration opposes Israel’s legislation because UNRWA plays
a “critical role,” and that there is no other way right now to distribute aid
sufficiently. However, he refused to comment on any potential sanctions or
retributive U.S. government action stemming from either this decision or the
unmet expectations of increased humanitarian flow outlined in the letter.
At the briefing, Miller also had a kerfuffle with Associated Press reporter Matt Lee
when asked about Israel’s UNRWA decision and how it might affect the
conditions laid out in the letter. Miller reiterated the Department’s concerns about
Israel’s decision and Gaza’s humanitarian situation overall, but when Lee
pressured him to provide a “letter grade” on Israel’s adherence to humanitarian
expectations, Miller laughed and said, playing into the analogy, that you don’t
hand out grades in the middle of the semester.
Israel’s stated justification for terminating relations with UNRWA is the
connection of several of its former employees with Hamas. Israel previously
accused 19 UNRWA staffers of involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks against
Israel, of which nine were fired by the UN in August based on evidence “sufficient
to conclude that they may have been involved in the 7 October attacks.” The U.S.
did not dispute these claims but expressed with “low confidence” in the strength
Israel’s findings, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal in February,
According to Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s Commissioner General, Israel has killed
223 of the agency’s employees since the war in Gaza began — a tally the UN
says is the highest for a single conflict in its history.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon re-emphasized the dominant Israeli
state perspective on Monday, positing that “The State of Israel will continue to
cooperate with humanitarian organizations but not with organizations that
promote terrorism against the State of Israel.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said last week that the argument of no
alternatives to UNRWA is fictional, citing Israeli claims that only 13% of aid to
Palestinians goes through the agency. Officials from COGAT, the wing of the
Israeli military in charge of humanitarian aid for Palestinians, say it is sufficiently
providing for Gaza.
Senior COGAT official Elad Goren said most aid distributed in the north is going
to Gaza City, and falsely claimed that there is “no population” left in regions of
northern Gaza like Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, according to reporting from PBS.
When asked about why aid was not going to other northern regions like Jabaliya,
a dense refugee camp facing a new Israeli offensive, Goren said the population is
being evacuated and those still there have “enough assistance” from the previous
months’ shipments. This past weekend, Al Jazeera reported heavy Israeli
bombardment in Jabaliya, in which at least 50 children were killed.
With less than a week remaining before Blinken and Austin’s attempt at hardball
reaches its critical point — and at least $3.8B in annual defense aid to its ally
hanging in the balance — it remains to be seen what the U.S. will do about Israel’s
continuous failures to improve the humanitarian devastation in Gaza and comply
with American demands."
Sam Bull
Sam Bull is a Reporting Intern for Responsible Statecraft. His work has previously
appeared in Planet Forward, the North by Northwestern Student Magazine and
the Northwestern Undergraduate Law Journal. Sam is a fourth-year
undergraduate student at Northwestern University, where he studies journalism,
political science and environmental policy.
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Responses:
[56293] [56304] [56325] [56336] [56337] [56353] [56313] |
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56293 |
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Date: November 08, 2024 at 09:01:05
From: mitra, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Deadline: US says Israel failing in aid efforts. What happens now? |
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Nothing happens now. Biden/Blinken have virtually
nothing.
Israel/Netanyahu will push back until the platform and
olive wreath are ready for trumps savior moment and
triumph at the end of the war .
Until then the weak, the sick, the injured, the old,
the very young, just die. They wouldn't be good at
moving rubble anyway.
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Responses:
[56304] [56325] [56336] [56337] [56353] [56313] |
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56304 |
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Date: November 08, 2024 at 10:17:40
From: chaskuchar@stcharlesmo, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Deadline: US says Israel failing in aid efforts. What happens now? |
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i pray that trump institutes a cease-fire. he has
nothing to lose and everything to gain. both pubs and
dems would support him.
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Responses:
[56325] [56336] [56337] [56353] [56313] |
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56325 |
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Date: November 09, 2024 at 15:04:07
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Deadline: US says Israel failing in aid efforts. What happens now? |
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He could stop sending Israel weapons (He'll likely won't). He could invoke
sanctions on Israel (most likely that will never happen). He could threaten never
to build hotels in Israel, Gaza or the West Bank. That might do the trick.
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Responses:
[56336] [56337] [56353] |
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56336 |
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Date: November 10, 2024 at 16:27:19
From: chaskuchar@stcharlesmo, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Deadline: US says Israel failing in aid efforts. What happens now? |
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after tfghe bullet hit him in tghe ear jesus said that
migvht have an effectg upon his gthinkingv. we will wait
and see. leftg hand is givingb me a fitg. thats wherf
the extrfa 'g' is coming frfom...
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Responses:
[56337] [56353] |
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56337 |
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Date: November 10, 2024 at 20:53:17
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Deadline: US says Israel failing in aid efforts. What happens now? |
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jesus eh? his thinking does not seem to have improved at ll...butagree, it may be worse...left hand? best get checked for strokes and such...
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Responses:
[56353] |
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56353 |
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Date: November 13, 2024 at 07:14:08
From: chaskuchar@stcharlesmo, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Deadline: US says Israel failing in aid efforts. What happens now? |
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a stroke caused my left hand problem. June 27, 2003. so
left hand is numb. almost evwery word with left hand has
extra letters. oh well.
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Responses:
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56313 |
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Date: November 08, 2024 at 11:44:53
From: mitra, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Deadline: US says Israel failing in aid efforts. What happens now? |
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Of course he will... Gaza will be the pennant for the
new world order. And a built-in warning to opposition.
Win-win.
And Trump Gaza.
Whoopeeee!
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