NEW YORK, Nov 12 — The United States will decide this week whether Israel has made progress toward improving the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and how Washington will respond, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday as Israel began to make its case.
President Joe Biden’s administration told Israel in an October 13 letter signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin that the longtime US ally must take steps within 30 days on a series of measures or risk restrictions on American military aid.
“This week we will make our judgments about what kind of progress they have made,” Sullivan told CBS programme “Face the Nation”.
“And then Secretary Austin, Secretary Blinken, (and) the president will make judgments about what we do in response, and I’m not going to get ahead of that.”
Cogat, the Israeli military agency that deals with Palestinian civilian affairs, on Sunday published a list of Israel’s humanitarian efforts over the past six months, “highlighting recent initiatives and detailing plans to sustain support for Gaza as winter approaches”.
“Through expanded routes, medical assistance, infrastructure improvements and coordination with international partners, Cogat continues to facilitate the implementation of humanitarian efforts meant to help the civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” the agency said.
The US deadline is set to expire just days after global food security experts said there is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas” of northern Gaza as Israel pursues a military offensive against Hamas Palestinian militants there.
Israel began its wide military push in northern Gaza last month. The US has said it is watching to ensure Israel’s actions on the ground show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government does not have a “policy of starvation” in the north.
Cogat on Saturday pushed back against the rare alert by the independent Famine Review Committee, which reviews findings by the internationally recognised standard known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
The Israeli agency said “all projections by the IPC have proven incorrect and inconsistent with the situation on the ground”, and that Israel’s military “operates and will continue to operate in accordance with international law to facilitate and ease the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza”.
Cogat also said Friday that it is preparing to open another crossing — at Kissufim — into Gaza.
The amount of aid entering Gaza has plummeted to its lowest level in a year, according to United Nations data, and the UN has accused Israel of hindering and blocking attempts to deliver aid, particularly to Gaza’s north.
In response to the famine warning, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees head Philippe Lazzarini accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon.
“This deprives people in Gaza of the basics including food to survive,” Lazzarini wrote in a social media post on Saturday. “What is being allowed into Gaza is not enough, an average of just over 30 trucks (a) day. This is just over 6 per cent of the daily needs.”
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon last month told the Security Council that the issue in Gaza was not a lack of aid, saying more than a million tonnes had been delivered during the past year. He accused Hamas of hijacking the assistance.
Hamas has denied Israeli allegations that it was stealing aid and has blamed Israel for shortages.
— Reuters
