U.S. warns Israel to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza or risk losing access to weapons

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration has put Israel on notice that it could risk losing access to U.S. weapons unless it allows more humanitarian aid to flow to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent a letter to their counterparts in Israel on Sunday warning that Israel must take steps within the next 30 days to allow more food and other humanitarian assistant into Gaza or face restrictions on U.S. military aid.

"We are writing now to underscore the U.S. 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," they wrote, according to a copy of the letter posted by an Axios reporter on X.

The letter follows a recent drop in humanitarian assistance reaching the people of Gaza, said John Kirby, the White House spokesman on national security issues.

Kirby said making sure Palestinians have access to humanitarian assistance “is obviously something we've been very, very concerned about since the beginning of the conflict.”

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The letter was not intended as a threat, Kirby said, but “was simply meant to reiterate the sense of urgency we feel and the seriousness with which we feel it, about the need for an increase, a dramatic increase, in humanitarian assistance.”

The administration made a similar request for concrete measures to boost humanitarian assistance back in April, Kirby said, “and that letter did receive a constructive response from the Israelis.”

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The letter is the clearest ultimatum yet to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government since the Gaza conflict began a year ago, raising the prospect of a shift in Washington's support for Israel.

Coming just three weeks before the U.S. presidential election, any cracks in that support could raise the pressure on Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, who has supported Israel’s right to defend itself but also has lamented the scale of human suffering in Gaza.

The Biden administration appeared to balance its criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza with a strong show of military support by announcing on Sunday – the same day it sent the letter – that it would send U.S. troops and the advanced THAAD anti-missile batteries to Israel.

The reports come as Israeli forces expand operations into northern Gaza amid ongoing concerns about access to humanitarian aid throughout Gaza and civilians' access to food, water and medicine.

Humanitarian groups have said famine and other desperate conditions have spread across Gaza after a year of war, which was triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

U.S. forces built a $230 million pier three miles off the Gaza coast last spring to help increase the flow of food and medicine into the war-torn region. But the U.S. shut down the operation after just two months when hijackings, mobs, combat and weather-related problems created significant obstacles to delivering the assistance.

In recent weeks, food supplies have fallen sharply since Israeli authorities introduced a new customs rule on some humanitarian aid and are separately scaling down deliveries organized by businesses, Reuters reported earlier this month.

The letter outlined specific steps Israel must take within 30 days, including enabling a minimum of 350 trucks to enter Gaza per day, instituting pauses in fighting to allow aid delivery and rescinding evacuation orders to Palestinian civilians when there is no operational need.

Contributing: Reuters

Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on X @mcollinsNEWS.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: U.S. warns Israel: Boost humanitarian aid in Gaza or risk military aid