From the Liveblog of
Friday, November 8, 2024
US says Israel starting to carry out steps to boost Gaza aid that administration demanded
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The Biden administration says Israel has begun following through on a series of steps to improve the Gaza humanitarian crisis that Washington demanded be taken within a month if Israel wanted to ensure the continued supply of offensive weapons from the US.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says in a press briefing that a new US-Israeli channel for discussing incidents of civilian harm is slated to convene for the first time in the next week or two. This was one of the requests that the US made in a letter to Israel on October 13 that warned failure to address them risked placing Israel out of compliance with US law, which bars the transfer of security assistance to countries that block humanitarian aid. The letter specified that the US wanted to see the new communication channel convene for the first time by the end of October, which didn’t end up happening.
In recent days, Israel reopened the Erez Crossing to allow aid into northern Gaza and has informed the US that it will open a new crossing into central Gaza bordering Kissufim in the coming days, Miller says, adding that Israel has also approved several new delivery routes inside Gaza to ensure that aid can be delivered to civilians.
Israel has begun allowing aid convoys to reach areas in northern Gaza that had been blocked off for weeks, the State Department spokesperson announces, noting that the US had been pushing Israel to do so amid alarming reports of mass hunger in the area. Israel says it has been operating in the area of Jabalya in order to thwart Hamas’s resurgence there and ordered civilians to evacuate ahead of time, but humanitarian groups say tens of thousands of noncombatants have been caught in the crossfire.
Miller also notes that Israel has begun expanding the Muwasi coastal humanitarian zone inland, as requested by the US in the letter due to fears that conditions there are inadequate as the winter approaches.
There has been a slight uptick in the number of aid trucks entering Gaza in recent days as well, including 229 that entered on Tuesday, 115 of which were collected, Miller says. This still remains below the 350-truck minimum that the US laid out in its letter to Israel.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says separately that Israel has “made some progress… but more needs to be made.”
Miller clarifies that the US is monitoring to ensure that aid is actually reaching Palestinians after it enters Gaza and that upticks in delivery are sustained in adjudicating Israel’s compliance with the letter.
But after Donald Trump won the presidential election this week, it’s unclear the level of leverage that the Biden administration has in curbing weapon shipments to Israel, given that the move would almost certainly be reversed by the president-elect.
Miller says that in the 74 days remaining before Trump enters office, the US is committed to working to bring an end to the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, while surging humanitarian assistance, securing the release of the hostages and preventing further regional escalation.
