Eight international aid groups jointly chastised Israel not only for failing to “meet any of the specific criteria” outlined by the Biden administration in an Oct. 13 letter demanding that the U.S. ally significantly increase the flow of capital . humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip within 30 days, but accusing Israel of taking “measures that have significantly worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in the Gaza Strip.” Northern Gaza.”
THE American letter had threatened to withhold some US military assistance to Israel if its demands were not met within 30 days – a deadline which has now passed.
“Israel’s actions did not meet any of the specific criteria set out in the US letter,” eight humanitarian groups, including Save the Children and Oxfam, said in a joint assessment of Israel’s response to US demands.
OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images
The joint statement was issued Tuesday as the US State Department said it found that Israel was not violating US laws on blocking aid supplies to Gaza, and that Israel had taken steps to respond. to US requests, so there would be no change to the current arrangement. of American weapons to Israel.
The humanitarian groups’ report said the “humanitarian situation is in an even more dire state today than a month ago,” particularly in northern Gaza, which has faced the full brunt of the crisis. Israel’s continuing war with the Iran-backed Hamas group.
“We have seen progress,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Tuesday. “We would like to see other changes happen. »
Earlier this month, a United Nations-backed report warned of “an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that “this should be the time to end the war” in the Middle East, adding that Israel, “by the standards it has set for itself , achieved the goals he set for himself.”
In a statement also released Tuesday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said “living conditions in Gaza are unfit for human survival,” warning that food supplies remained insufficient.
OCHA cited an increase in “violent armed looting of our convoys… driven by the breakdown of law and order and security” in Gaza, but added that the main problems in providing aid to more than Gaza’s 2 million residents were “not logistical problems – they can be solved with good political will.”
“Our response capacity is weakened,” the agency said, specifically citing the Israeli parliament’s recent decision to ban the U.N.’s Palestinian aid agency, UNRWA, from operating in Gaza. from January.
“If implemented, this bill will deal another devastating blow to efforts to provide lifesaving aid and stave off the threat of famine,” OCHA said.