U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a press conference in Tel Aviv on January 9, 2024, during a week-long tour aimed at easing tensions across the Middle East as fighting continues between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. .
Alberto Pizzoli | AFP | Getty Images
The United States announced on Tuesday that there would be no significant policy changes toward Israel at the end of a 30-day deadline it set to improve the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“At this time, we have not assessed that the Israelis have violated U.S. law,” Vedant Patel, the State Department’s principal deputy spokesperson, said at a news conference in Washington.
“We have made some progress, but we expect more changes to come. We believe that without U.S. intervention, these changes might not have happened,” Patel said. spoke.
The demands and deadlines are set out in a joint letter from Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin delivered on October 13. If Israel wants to remain eligible for foreign military funding under U.S. law, Blinken and Austin write: At least 350 aid trucks per day must be allowed into the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The letter also called on Israel to strengthen security at humanitarian sites and increase the number of suspensions of humanitarian military operations.
A month later, an average of just over 30 trucks a day are flowing into Gaza, according to reports. Philip LazzariniSecretary-General of UNRWA, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees.
Palestinians, including children, wait for food to be distributed by aid organizations in Deir al-Bala, Gaza Strip, November 10, 2024.
Ashraf Amra | Anadolu | Getty Images
Patel defended the US’ decision not to change its stance on Israel, which has come under intense scrutiny both domestically and internationally.
“We want to see an overall improvement in the humanitarian situation, and we believe that some of these measures will continue to advance the conditions for that,” Patel said.
Meanwhile, international organizations continue to sound the alarm On the humanitarian cost of Israel’s war in Gaza. A coalition of humanitarian organizations recently assessed that Israel has not made significant progress on any of the US demands.
More than 43,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began in October 2023, triggered by a Hamas surprise attack on Israel that claimed more than 1,000 lives.
The majority of those killed in Gaza were women and children killed in strikes against residential buildings. United Nations Human Rights Office said in a release earlier this month.
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