The U.S. has insisted that Israel hasn’t violated American laws regarding the issue of the blockade of shipments of aid into Gaza, even as it has been more than 30 days since the U.S. presented Israel with a deadline to open up access to humanitarian aid. Officials acknowledged Israel’s gestures: for instance, the opening of a brand-new land crossing and the resumption of aid deliveries to northern Gaza. Yet, much is still pending.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel confirmed these measures but refused to say if aid has reached the besieged Jabalia refugee camp. Meanwhile, the United Nations has warned that this represents the lowest amount of aid allowed to enter Gaza this year as sharp shortages in essential supplies are reported.
Recent days have seen a UN-backed report point out the threat of famine in northern Gaza, in which aid has been almost nonexistent in the past weeks. Joyce Msuya, acting UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, accused Israel of blocking the aid to the northern region in which fighting is still ongoing and 75,000 people remain trapped in with scarce resources. Humanitarian agencies reported that conditions have become worse following the lapse of the U.S deadline.
Citing these reports, however, the US had made known that its support to Israel will continue militarily. Some US officials, like Secretary of State Antony Blinken, had given Israel a deadline of 30 days to ensure that aid trucks can reach Gaza. However, after the lapse of the deadline, the US reinstated that no form of military aid will be withdrawn to Israel.
In Beit Hanoun, where the blockade has held for more than a month, UN officials said food and water reached shelters, but Israeli forces have already evicted people from those areas. UN officials declared that Israel’s military actions are a systematic targeting of civilians which aggravates the humanitarian crisis.
Israel argues it has tripled the level of assistance entering Gaza and that aid organizations are failing to deliver adequately. The Israeli military continues its assault on Hamas, which it says perpetrated the October 7 attacks in southern Israel that killed close to 1,200 people and saw 251 kidnapped. More than 43,000 have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s offensive began, according to a tally from the Hamas-run health ministry.
