Israel has been put on official notice by the Biden administration in a recent letter leaked by Barak Ravid, an Israeli journalist who works for Axios. In the letter, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin warn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to lift restrictions on aid into Gaza within 30 days or face unspecified policy "implications" including the potential halting of US weapons transfers.
The four-page letter, dated 13 October, was addressed to Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, and Ron Dermer, the strategic affairs minister.
Below is the full text of the missive.
Dear Ministers,
Secretary Blinken’s 19 April letter to Minister Gallant emphasised that, in accordance with US law and policy, including National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-70), the Departments of State and Defense must continually assess your government’s adherence to the March 2024 assurances that Israel would “facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance and US government-supported international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance” to and within Gaza. The Department of State will need to conduct a similar assessment under section 620l of the Foreign Assistance Act in order to provide additional Foreign Military Financing assistance to Israel. We are now writing to underscore the US government’s deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory.
The humanitarian situation for over two million civilians in Gaza is increasingly dire. Despite the July transition from combat operations to Special Counterterrorism Operations in the Gaza Strip, multiple evacuation orders have forced 1.7 million people into a narrow coastal zone from Mawasi to Deir al Balah. Extreme overcrowding has put these civilians at high risk of lethal contagion. Humanitarian implementers report they are unable to meet the essential survival needs of aid-dependent civilians. Trucks carrying humanitarian commodities, including perishable goods funded by the United States, are delayed at crossing platforms.
We are particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government — including halting commercial imports, denying or impeding nearly 90% of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza in September, continuing burdensome and excessive dual-use restrictions, and instituting new vetting and onerous liability and customs requirements for humanitarian staff and shipments — together with increased lawlessness and looting, are contributing to an accelerated deterioration in Gaza’s conditions.
Since Israel’s assurances in March and the April letter, which produced important improvements in the provision of humanitarian assistance, the amount of aid delivered has dropped by more than 50%. The assistance entering Gaza in September was the lowest of any month during the past year. Conversely, Israel recently demonstrated what is possible and necessary to ensure civilians in Gaza receive the required assistance, as evidenced by the successful campaign to administer polio vaccines to more than 560,000 children in Gaza.
To reverse this downward humanitarian trajectory and remain consistent with its assurances, Israel must act immediately and within the next 30 days on the following concrete measures. Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for US policy under NSM-20 and relevant US law.
Ahead of winter, surge all forms of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza by:
•Enabling a minimum of 350 trucks per day to enter Gaza, upholding your prior commitment to allow assistance to flow consistently through all four major crossings (Erez West, Erez East, Gate 96, and Kerem Shalom), as well as opening a new fifth crossing.
•Instituting adequate humanitarian pauses across Gaza as necessary to enable humanitarian activities, including vaccinations, deliveries, and distribution, for at least the next four months.
•Allowing people in Mawasi and the humanitarian zone to move inland before winter.
•Enhancing security for fixed humanitarian sites and movements.
•Rescinding evacuation orders when there is no operational need.
•Facilitating rapid implementation of the World Food Program winter and logistics plan to repair roads, install warehousing, and expand platforms and staging areas.
•Ensuring Israeli Coordination and Liaison (CLA) officers can communicate with humanitarian convoys at checkpoints and assign division-level liaison officers from Southern Command to the Joint Coordination Board.
•Removing restrictions on the use of container and closed trucks and increasing the number of vetted drivers to 400. •Removing an agreed list of essential items from the dual-use restricted list.
•Providing expedited clearance processing at the Port of Ashdod for Gaza-bound humanitarian assistance.
•Ensure the commercial and Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) corridors function at full and continuous capacity by:
•Waiving customs requirements on the JAF corridor until the UN is able to implement its own process.
•Allowing the JAF to enter Gaza through the northern crossings and others as agreed.
•Reinstating a minimum of 50-100 commercial trucks per day.
•End the isolation of northern Gaza by reaffirming that there will be no Israeli government policy of forced evacuation of civilians from northern to southern Gaza.
•Ensuring humanitarian organizations have continuous access to northern Gaza through northern crossings and from southern Gaza.
Relatedly, we are deeply concerned about the potential adoption of Knesset legislation that could remove certain privileges and immunities from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and its staff, prohibit official contact with UNRWA, and alter the status quo regarding UNRWA in Jerusalem. While we share your concerns about the serious allegations of certain UNRWA employees participating in the October 7 terrorist attacks and the misuse of UNRWA facilities by Hamas, enacting such restrictions would devastate the Gaza humanitarian response at this critical moment and deny vital educational and social services to tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This could have implications under relevant US law and policy.
We urge you to take all possible steps, whether with lawmakers or through the authorities of the Prime Minister’s Office, to prevent this from happening. Additionally, we ask that you provide UNRWA with further information regarding these allegations as we continue to urge UNRWA to implement reforms ensuring confidence in its personnel.
The April letter stressed the critical importance of Israel’s strong commitment to meeting its international law obligations in operations against Hamas, including allowing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to individuals detained in connection with the conflict and re-engaging in dialogue with the ICRC immediately. Reports of abuses against detainees have further heightened the urgency for Israel to take these steps.
Lastly, it is crucial that our governments establish a new channel to raise and discuss incidents of civilian harm. Our previous engagements have not achieved the necessary outcomes. We request the initial virtual meeting for this channel to be held by the end of October.
Again, we request your urgent intervention and leadership in addressing this situation.
Sincerely,
Antony J. Blinken Secretary of State Lloyd J. Austin III Secretary of Defence
