America warns Israel: improve aid conditions in Gaza within 30 days, otherwise there will be no weapons!

The Biden administration warned Israel that it must improve the “increasingly severe” humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip within 30 days. If the situation does not improve, the US may be legally forced to cut off the supply of US weapons.

The warning comes from a letter signed by US Secretary of State Brinken and Secretary of Defense Austin on October 13. The recipients are Israeli Defense Secretary Garant and Secretary of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer (Ron Dermer).

The letter stated that US law requires countries receiving US weapons to “promote and not arbitrarily refuse, restrict, or otherwise hinder” humanitarian aid provided or supported by the United States. The two officials called on Israel to allow at least 350 trucks carrying aid to enter Gaza every day, increase the safety of aid sites and the passage of humanitarian workers, end the isolation of northern Gaza, and take other actions.

The number of aid vehicles entering Gaza has declined since April of this year. Despite America's warning to Israel in April, which led to an increase in aid for a period of time, aid flows into Gaza have been reduced by more than half in the months since then. The amount of aid in September was the lowest in the past year.

Speaking about the letter at a press conference on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Sabrina Singh (Sabrina Singh) said, “We didn't know this letter would be leaked; it was meant to be a private letter. ”

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel Channel 12 and Axios reported the letter, which is one of the harshest and most specific warnings the US has issued to Israel about the situation in Gaza. The US is Israel's largest supplier of arms, and Washington's support is critical to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's war plans in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as wider rivalry between Israel and Iran.

US officials have been urging Israeli officials to limit civilian casualties and increase aid to struggling Palestinians. But the US government has only stopped shipping 2,000 pound bombs once — a move aimed at limiting Israel's previous attacks on the southern city of Rafah in Gaza.

As the November elections approach, the Biden administration is under pressure at home. As Israel shifts its focus from Gaza to a second front against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Biden administration seems increasingly unable to influence the situation in the Middle East. Some in the Democratic Party called on the US to completely stop delivering offensive weapons to Israel to force Netanyahu to stop the conflict.

On Tuesday, when asked what the consequences would be if Israel gave more aid to Gaza, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller (Matthew Miller) said, “I'm not going to talk about this today.”

Miller said he hoped the letter would prompt Israel to increase its humanitarian aid as it did in April, and said that this is not the first or last time that the two governments have communicated on this issue.

In their letter, Brinken and Austin mentioned that they are particularly concerned about Israel's blocking the transportation of goods, imposing “heavy and excessive” restrictions on dual-use (military and civilian) goods, and imposing “stringent” customs requirements on humanitarian workers and their supplies.

They also mentioned that Israel's actions, combined with the looting and widespread anarchy in the Gaza region, are “accelerating the deterioration of the situation on the ground”.