US warns Israel humanitarian crisis in Gaza could threaten military aid

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The US has told Israel it needs to take “urgent and sustained actions” to improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza or military aid from Washington could be at risk, in a rare public ultimatum to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

In a joint letter sent to top Israeli officials on Sunday, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin and secretary of state Antony Blinken outlined a series of measures the Biden administration expects Israel to take to reverse the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza over the next 30 days.

Austin and Blinken warned that if Israel does not comply, Washington could determine that its ally is flouting assurances not to impede aid that is tied to more military financing.

US officials confirmed that the letter had been sent.

Washington’s demands fell into three categories: an increase in all forms of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza ahead of winter; ensuring that commercial and Jordanian Armed Forces corridors are operating at full capacity continuously; and an end to the isolation of northern Gaza.

“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 this month to reverse this trajectory,” the secretaries wrote to Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and minister of strategic affairs Ron Dermer.

Blinken and Austin added that “failure” to take steps implementing their demands could have “implications” for US policy and law governing military aid.

At a briefing in Washington on Tuesday, state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: “It’s just a plain reading of US law . . . that 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.”

When pressed on the possible consequences he gave no further details.

The US has approved at least $17.9bn in military aid to Israel since Hamas’s attack on October 7 2023, according to a report from Brown University.

The letter is a sign of rising frustration within the Biden administration at the conduct of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which has lasted for more than a year, killed more than 42,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, and fuelled a humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave. Most of the Gazan population has been displaced, and huge swaths of territory have been reduced to rubble.

Israel launched the offensive in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack, during which militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took 250 hostage.

Israel’s recent offensive in Lebanon has raised concerns about further harm to civilians elsewhere in the region, though Austin and Blinken did not mention Lebanon in their letter.

In their letter, Austin and Blinken demanded the establishment of “a new channel which we can raise and discuss civilian harm incidents”. They wrote that “our engagements to date have not produced the necessary outcomes”, and added that the first meeting must be held by the end of October.

The letter, which was dated October 13, was sent the day President Joe Biden authorised the Pentagon to deploy an advanced antimissile system to Israel to shore up its defences, along with 100 troops to manage its operation.

Israel is expected to strike military targets in Iran at some point before the US presidential election in retaliation for Tehran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack on the Jewish state. The US-supplied Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery would help defend against any potential Iranian response.

Austin and Blinken wrote that Washington expects reassurances that “there will be no Israeli government policy of forced evacuation of civilians from northern to southern Gaza”.

Israeli human rights groups warned on Monday that Israel appears to have started implementing a controversial plan proposed by a former general to evacuate and then lay siege to northern Gaza, starving those who remain, to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 101 hostages it is holding.

Rights organisations say the plan would trap civilians and breach international law. Israel’s military has denied implementing the plan.

The secretaries also said Israel needs to ensure humanitarian organisations have continuous access to northern Gaza from the north and south. The US also wants to see at least 350 trucks a day enter Gaza through four existing major crossings and the opening of a fifth entry point.

The letter said Israel was expected to institute “adequate humanitarian pauses across Gaza” for vaccinations, aid delivery and distribution for the next four months. Washington said it also wanted Israel to rescind evacuation orders where possible and improve communications with humanitarian convoys.

According to the Israeli military’s own data, less than 6,000 tons of food aid have gone into Gaza so far this month, compared with an average of 75,000 tons of food a month since November.

Additional reporting by Zehra Munir in New York. Data visualisation by Aditi Bhandari