U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Israel demanding it improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or risk losing crucial security assistance.
The letter was supposed to be a private, diplomatic communication and was not intended for the public, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said at a press conference Tuesday.
"What we have seen over the past few months is that the level of humanitarian assistance has not been sustained," adding, "Ultimately, we did not see our concerns sufficiently addressed, which is why the two secretaries sent the letter they did," Miller warned.
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National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby tried to assuage fears and told reporters that the letter was not meant as a threat. "The letter was simply meant to reiterate the sense of urgency we feel and the seriousness with which we feel about the need for an increase, dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance. And that's what you can do with your friend. That's what you can do with your ally. And it's not the first time we've communicated that to Israel. But hopefully we won't have to communicate it again."
Some critics took issue with the letter not being a threat.
"I’m not sure which is worse to consider, that threatening an ally is a necessary pre-election political theater to pacify radical pro-Hamas leftists or that it’s actually U.S. policy to cut off arms to Israel if Israel doesn’t agree to feed, fuel and fund Hamas," Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former NSC official in the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital.
"Because let’s be clear, that’s what this is really all about – whether Hamas survives by controlling humanitarian aid and its distribution," Goldberg said.
The letter, which was first obtained by Axios, expressed its "deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza" and is particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government, including halting commercial imports and denying or impeding nearly 90% of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza in September, are "contributing to an accelerated deterioration in the conditions in Gaza."
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Since assurances made by Israel last spring, which the letter acknowledges produced important improvements in the humanitarian situation, the amount of aid delivered to Gaza has dropped by 50% in September, the lowest amount of aid delivered in any month since the war began.
The letter says Israel has within 30 days to "reverse the downward humanitarian trajectory" and remain consistent with its obligations to the U.S. Failure to comply with these demands, the letter said, would violate existing U.S. law and have serious implications for U.S. national security policy.
Israel has defended its humanitarian response to the crisis in Gaza in a statement released on Monday by COGAT, the army division that deals with aid to Gaza, stating, "Since the start of the war, Israel has allowed the international community to bring 54,270 aid trucks into Gaza, carrying 1,064,820 tons of humanitarian aid through various crossings, including 38,746 trucks carrying approximately 824,078 tons of food."
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The U.S. must continually assess the delivery of humanitarian aid under the Foreign Assistance Act in order to provide foreign military financing assistance to Israel. President Biden issued a memorandum in February stating countries receiving U.S. weapons must adhere to international humanitarian law and provide written assurances of their compliance under the laws of war.
The U.S. has surged billions of dollars in security aid to Israel since the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel is also the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid since its founding and has received around $310 billion in economic and military aid. On average, the U.S. provides Israel with over $3 billion in security assistance a year.
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A major component of security aid includes $500 million a year for joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense programs, notably the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow II, which have been critical to thwarting rocket and missile attacks from Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran since Oct. 7.
Some of the military aid to Israel since Oct. 7 includes 13,981 120mm M830A1 high-explosive anti-tank multi-purpose with tracer (MPAT) tank cartridges, 500 aircraft deliveries and 107 sea shipments to Israel of over 50,000 tons of munitions and weapons systems, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The U.S. also announced that it would be sending military personnel and initial components necessary to operate the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to Israel to bolster the country’s security.
"The deployment of the THAAD battery to Israel underscores the United States’ commitment to the defense of Israel and to defend Americans in Israel from any ballistic missile attacks by Iran," the Pentagon press secretary, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, said in a statement.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, over 40,000 people have been killed since the start of hostilities following the terror group's massacre of Israelis last October. Some 1,200 Israelis were massacred and 257 were kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. All of Gaza’s 2.1 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance and 1.9 million people are internally displaced, according to the International Rescue Committee.
