Tel Aviv — In early fall in Gaza, aid workers distributed one portion of food per meal per family to hungry civilians displaced by The war raging between Israel and Hamas. But as Israel halted aid deliveries to the Palestinian territory, meals dwindled. Last week, the United Nations again warned that some Gaza residents were facing starvation conditions.
The Israeli government faces a deadline this Wednesday. The Biden administration warned nearly a month ago that Israel must significantly increase the amount of aid to Gaza’s besieged civilian population within 30 days or face restrictions on the American military support for the country.
The ultimatum, outlined in an administration letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his deputies, appears to have had some impact.
Amir Lévy/Getty
CBS News saw aid trucks crossing the Israel-Gaza border at one of four land crossings Monday morning.
Under US pressure, Israel has increased its aid amount from a minimum of 30 aid trucks per day in October to around 150 today. But that’s still less than half of
the 350 trucks that, according to the US government, must arrive in Gaza to meet the urgent needs of the enclave’s more than 2 million residents.
United Nations humanitarian agencies have said in recent days that far from a dramatic increase, even less food and other aid is reaching Palestinian civilians in Gaza due to ongoing Israeli restrictions and evacuation orders and intensification of offensives in the north and center of the territory, as well as the chaos created by the absence of law enforcement presence in the enclave.
Achraf Amra/Anadolu/Getty
Netanyahu’s new foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said Monday that he was confident that Israel would “reach an agreement with our American friends and that this issue will be resolved.”
But Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, told CBS News that if the outgoing Biden administration determines that the minimum threshold for aid is not met and decides to curb the flow of American military support, this could impact Israel’s war. effort.
“Israel must ask itself: ‘Do we have the ammunition we need to get to January 20, 2025?’ “… I don’t know. I served in the army during the summer in the north, and there were serious shortages at the time. »
But while broad material support from the United States may be crucial, Oren said there would be broader implications for Israel if the U.S. government reduced its support.
“It’s a signal to other suppliers,” he said.
In other words, if Israel’s largest ally reduced the extent of its support for the multi-front war, it could incentivize other countries that have continued to support the Israeli government despite major concerns over of human rights, including some which have already imposed certain limits, to curb their policies. diplomatic aid and support as well.
“This signal from the United States – where Canada and Britain are already refusing us certain types of arms deliveries – the signal, saying that our main ally in the world is not delivering these weapons, (would) be a very, very dangerous signal,” Oren said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will be in Washington to meet with President Biden Tuesday, and the delivery of aid to Gaza will certainly be a key topic of discussion.
But Netanyahu is also clearly aware that the White House is now about to change hands, and even though its new resident, President-elect Donald Trump, has criticized the current Israeli government’s tactics in communicating over the war, he is seen as less likely to maintain or increase U.S. pressure on humanitarian issues in Gaza.
Netanyahu said he spoke with President-elect Trump three times in recent days.
Trump has said he wants the war in Gaza to end quickly – apparently even before he takes office in January – but he has not specified how he plans to do that.
Real Tucker
contributed to this report.
Elizabeth Palmer
