Blinken tells Sa’ar more needs to be done to facilitate Gaza aid

The US State Department says Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the Biden administration’s call for Israel to do more to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza during his meeting with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar yesterday in Malta.

Following a pair of months that saw the lowest amount of aid enter the Strip since the start of the war, the US in October gave Israel a 30-day deadline to take significant steps to boost the humanitarian situation or risk a partial weapons embargo. As the deadline expired last month, Washington said Israel had made enough progress on many of the steps requested by Washington to avoid an embargo. However, the administration stressed that it expected Israel to maintain the new measures instituted in order to alleviate the humanitarian crisis as much as possible.

Israel argues that Hamas is stealing or profiting off of much of the aid that is entering Gaza, while large quantities are looted by criminal gangs.

International stakeholders maintain that Israel effectively occupies the Strip and controls the crossings and is therefore responsible for the humanitarian situation inside the enclave. They also argue that Israel’s refusal to allow the Palestinian Authority to gain a foothold in Gaza has allowed Hamas to fill any vacuums temporarily created by the IDF through its military activity against the terror group.