US secretary of state Antony Blinken has urged Israel to substantially increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In a call on Monday night with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, Mr Blinken “urged further actions to substantially increase and sustain humanitarian aid – including food, medicine, and other essential supplies – to civilians across all of Gaza”, according to the US department of state.
Mr Blinken previously discussed the issue with Israeli minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer.
On October 13th, Mr Dermer and Mr Gallant received a letter from Mr Blinken and US defence secretary Lloyd Austin giving Israel 30 days to take specific measures to enable a minimum of 350 trucks to enter Gaza each day.
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State department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Monday: “As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around”.
The United Nations children’s agency Unicef, world Food Programme and other aid groups have declared the situation in northern Gaza – where Israel is battling Hamas – as “apocalyptic”. “The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of disease, famine and violence,” they said in a joint statement.
“Basic, life-saving goods are not available. Humanitarians are not safe to do their work and are blocked by Israeli forces and by insecurity from reaching people in need.”
According to the UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a daily average of 36 trucks entered Gaza during October – far below the pre-war average of 500 trucks a day.
An Israeli government spokesman denied there were limits and said 47 trucks had entered the north alone on Sunday.
The letter on October 13th called for pauses in hostilities to allow aid deliveries and humanitarian activities and enhance security for aid movements and sites. The US warned that continued US military supplies could depend on Israel’s compliance with US law which prohibits arms aid to countries obstructing humanitarian aid. Washington has provided Israel with $17.9 billion in security assistance since the Hamas attack on October 7th, 2023, according to the Watson Institute at Brown University.
The US has also expressed concern after Israel’s parliament adopted a law preventing Unrwa, the Palestinian refugee agency, from operating in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where it provides 2.5 million refugees with shelter and health, education, and welfare services.
Since Israel began its military campaign in the Strip, Unrwa has become the chief facilitator of the flow of food and medicine to 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians.
The US has said enactment of this law would “devastate the Gaza humanitarian response and deny vital educational and social services [which] could have implications under relevant US law and policy”.
Israel claims Unrwa has been infiltrated by Hamas.
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