Advocates question US ‘threat’ to Israel over Gaza aid: What to know
Al Jazeera
Experts urge Washington to follow US law and immediately suspend aid to Israel as humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens.
Senior United States officials have warned Israel that if it does not take “urgent and sustained actions” to allow more humanitarian assistance into the Gaza Strip, the US government may be forced to curtail its support for the top ally.
The warning, put forward in a letter signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin that was made public this week, came as Israel’s year-long war on Gaza has fuelled starvation and disease across the coastal Palestinian enclave.
“The amount of assistance entering Gaza in September was the lowest of any month during the past year,” the US officials said in the letter, giving Israel 30 days to act on a series of demands to “reverse the downward humanitarian trajectory”.
Almost immediately, lawyers, human rights advocates and other experts questioned the US administration’s apparent threat of cutting off American military assistance to Israel.
“Once again, the Biden administration is doing bureaucratic gymnastics to avoid enforcing US law and ending arms transfers to Israel,” Annie Shiel, US advocacy director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, said in a social media post.
