Blinken urges IDF to implement days-long pauses in Gaza fighting to allow aid delivery
Secretary says this was one of three demands that Israel fell short of meeting from letter that threatened partial arms embargo, which the US held off on implementing
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called on Israel to implement days-long humanitarian pauses in the fighting in Gaza in order to allow for the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians throughout the Strip.
It was one of three steps that Blinken said Israel had fallen short on from a list of 15 that were included in a letter the US sent Israel on October 13, which gave Israel 30 days to implement those measures at risk of being deemed in violation of US law, which bars the transfer of offensive weapons to countries that block the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians.
As the deadline expired on Monday, the US said Israel had made enough progress on those steps to remain in compliance with US law, but administration spokespeople came under fire from reporters who pointed out that even Israel’s daily average of aid trucks entering Gaza over the past month was roughly 15 percent of the benchmark of 350 that the US demanded Israel meet in the letter.
Moreover, even after aid has entered the Strip, much of it is looted by Hamas or local gangs or remains in storage due to IDF restrictions, leaving the humanitarian situation as dire as ever. The situation remains particularly grim in northern Gaza where aid is starting to trickle in to areas that were under siege by the IDF for nearly a month.
But with Donald Trump’s election win last week, the Biden administration saw much of its leverage over Israel disintegrate, given that the president-elect would likely reverse any move to withhold weapons from Israel upon returning to the White House.
In remarks to reporters at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Blinken defended the US decision to continue sending weapons to Israel, saying Israel wouldn’t have taken any of the steps it did over the past month — such as the minor uptick in aid trucks entering Gaza, opening additional crossings and delivery routes, waiving certain custom requirements for aid groups, resuming the delivery of aid into northern Gaza and expanding the Muwasi coastal humanitarian zone — had it not been for the administration’s October 13 letter.
Still, he recognized that Israel had fallen short on some of the US demands; one being rescinding evacuation orders after the IDF finishes operating in particular areas.
The army’s refusal to do so has led to major overcrowding in the Muwasi humanitarian zone and concerns that Israel is seeking to take over large swaths of Gaza territory, either to create a buffer zone or to establish settlements. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured Blinken during the latter’s visit to Israel last month that Jerusalem is not planning to rebuild communities in the Strip, but when the secretary asked the premier to publicly declare as much, Netanyahu declined to do so, apparently due to pressure he faces from far-right coalition members who back the controversial effort, a US official told The Times of Israel.
Blinken said Wednesday that Israel has also fallen short on the US demand to allow the entry of commercial goods into Gaza.
“This is vital because so many of the things that commercial truckers bring in, including things like fruits and vegetables, are absolutely essential to the balanced nutrition for people in Gaza,” he said, adding that such goods are not typically part of the humanitarian aid the enters Gaza and are critical for boosting Gazans’ immunity to diseases as winter approaches.
Blinken recognized that the entry of commercial trucks raises the risk of additional looting. There are already roughly 900 trucks sitting on the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom due to such concerns, and the US is working to address with Israel and Egypt to address the issue, he said.
The most significant of the three shortfalls was the lack of “real and extended pauses in any fighting in large areas of Gaza so that the assistance can effectively get to people who need it,” Blinken said.
While he acknowledged that this demand poses major challenges, it is one that Israel managed to meet to allow for a polio vaccination campaign that served hundreds of thousands of children throughout the Strip — though one that likely wouldn’t have been necessary in the first place if not for the humanitarian crisis sparked by the war.
While Israel has allowed for hours-long pauses, Blinken said those will need to be extended for days in order to ensure that aid can get to all parts of the Strip.
The secretary noted that he will be discussing the issue with US President Joe Biden in the coming days and stressed that Israel has a responsibility to meet these demands.
Regardless, Blinken stressed that the best way to address the humanitarian crisis is by ending the conflict, arguing that Israel has already achieved its war aim of ensuring that Hamas doesn’t have the military capabilities to conduct another October 7-like attack in addition to taking out the terror group’s leadership.
It still has not succeeded in releasing the hostages, though, and Blinken slammed Hamas’s rejection of recent proposals for a short-term deal. Netanyahu has also ruled out ending the war in exchange for the hostages, in what has further complicated negotiations. His critics have claimed his refusal to end the war stems from concerns that this would lead to the collapse of his coalition, which includes far-right elements who want the fighting to continue and for settlements to be established in northern Gaza.
But Blinken appears to place more of the blame on Hamas, adding that its refusal to engage in recent negotiations is what led Qatar to tell the terror group’s officials in Doha to leave the country. No timeline has been given for that departure, though.
And while Blinken stressed Israel’s responsibility to surge humanitarian aid throughout Gaza, he called out the international community for failing to hold Hamas responsible for the continuation of the war. “It’s extraordinary to me that from almost day one, there is no focus on Hamas and almost deafening silence around the world on Hamas.”
