Increase Gaza aid or face arms cuts, US warns Israel

The Biden administration threatens to withhold arms supplies to Israel within 30 days unless it improves the ‘increasingly dire’ humanitarian situation in Gaza, in its toughest warning yet.

Volunteers from the Qatari and Egyptian Red Crescent humanitarian organisations unload aid destined for the Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP.

The Biden administration has threatened to withhold arms supplies to Israel within 30 days unless it dramatically improves the “increasingly dire” humanitarian situation in the besieged Gaza Strip, in what appears to be the toughest rebuke Washington has issued to the Jewish state since the October 7 terrorist attack.

In a letter dated October 13 and signed by the secretaries of state and defence Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, the US government suggested Israel may be breaking assurances it had provided to the US in March to “facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance”.

“We are now writing to underscore the US government’s deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government,” the letter, addressed to the Israeli ministers of defence and strategic affairs, said.

Full letter from the Biden Admin to Israel.

Dear Ministers:

Secretary Blinken’s April 19 letter to Minister Gallant emphasized that, in accordance with U.S. law and policy, including National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-70), the Departments of State and Defense must… pic.twitter.com/sYf3gXb24s

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 15, 2024

It cited a part of the US Foreign Assistance Act that bars Washington from providing security aid to any nation that “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”

The letter, which emerged days after the US announced it would send 100 troops plus an advanced missile defence system to Israel, came as Jerusalem was expected to launch a significant attack on Iran in reprisal for Tehran’s missile barrage on Israel earlier this month, a move not expected to include an attack on Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities according to information briefed out by senior US officials.

First reported by Axios, the letter will prompt accusations the Biden administration is seeking to shore up support among electorally crucial Arab communities in Michigan and other swing states three weeks ahead of a tight presidential election, where their votes could be crucial.

Democrats have been torn since the outbreak of war in the Middle East in October last year between underscoring their loyalty to Israel — a longstanding bipartisan position in the US — while mollifying the party’s left-wing base which tends to sympathise with the Palestinian cause.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, who later confirmed the veracity of a letter he said was meant to be private, would not specify how the US might respond if Israel didn’t comply, simply pointing out the government needed to comply with US law.

“We are required to conduct assessments and find that recipients of US military assistance do not arbitrarily deny or impede the provisioning of us humanitarian assistance. That’s just the law, and we of course will follow the law,” he told reporters.

“What we have seen over the past few months is that the level of humanitarian assistance has not been sustained... In fact, it has fallen by over 50 percent from where it was at its peak”.

The secretaries in the letter said they were “particularly concerned” by actions of the Israeli government that allegedly included “halting commercial imports, denying or impeding nearly 90 per cent of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza in September, continuing burdensome and excessive dual-use restrictions, and instituting new vetting and onerous liability and customs requirements for humanitarian staff and shipments”.

Israel has ramped up its attacks on Hamas in Northern Gaza in recent weeks and expanded a series of strikes against Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, which local authorities say have killed 150 medical and rescue workers, and at least 21 people in a strike on a northern Lebanese village, Aitou, on Monday (Tuesday AEDT).

The US provided a list of specific undertakings Israel must comply with “starting now and within 30 days”, including enabling a minimum of 350 trucks per day to enter Gaza from all four established crossings, and “reaffirming that there will be no Israeli government policy of forced evacuation of civilians from northern to southern Gaza”.

“Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have Implications for U.S. policy under NSM-20 and relevant US law,” the administration added.

Michael DiMino, a former CIA official who worked on the Middle East, told the Wall St Journal such threats weren’t necessary to shape Israel’s policy in Gaza.

“If the Biden administration wants to stop providing weapons, they could do just that. They don’t need to wind up some massive legal pretext to do so,” he said. “President Biden’s policy has been to support Israel in conducting the war, so I’m not sure I believe an arms embargo is right around the corner.”

In a statement, the Israeli Defence Forces said “humanitarian efforts in northern Gaza continue,” including the accompaniment of 33 patients to working hospitals and fuel deliveries.

Since October 1, over 9,000 tons of humanitarian aid including food, water, gas, shelter equipment and medical supplies have entered Gaza through various crossings.

As shown in the video, some of the aid was transferred directly into northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/gYslbAQfNv

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 15, 2024

In a post on IDF showing aid trucks moving into Gaza, the IDF added: “Since October 1, over 9,000 tons of humanitarian aid including food, water, gas, shelter equipment and medical supplies have entered Gaza through various crossings”.

The US in May temporarily paused shipments of 2,000 and 500 pound bombs to Israel amid fears they might be used in the densely populated Rafah part of Gaza.

The latest potential sign of US weapons restrictions came after Jordan last week joined and France and Spain, none of which supply Israel with weapons, in calling for an arms embargo on Israel to increase pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire in a war that has killed over 42,000 Gazans in a year in addition to the 1,200 Israelis slain on October 7 last year.

The US also said it was “deeply concerned” about potential Knesset legislation to “remove certain privileges and immunities from the United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency”, some of whose employees have been accused of aiding and abetting the October 7 terrorist attack.

“While we share your concerns about the serious allegations of certain UNRWA employees participating in the October 7 terrorist attacks and of Hamas misusing UNRWA facilities, enactment of such restrictions would devastate the Gaza humanitarian response at this critical moment and deny vital educational and social services to tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” the letter stated.

The letter, while praising Israel for a recent “successful campaign to administer polio vaccines to more than 560,000 children in Gaza”, also stated the US was concerned Jerusalem's evacuation orders had forced 1.7 million people into a narrow coastal area of Gaza, creating “extreme overcrowding” that put them at “high risk of lethal contagion”.