The Israeli government did not meet the criteria established by the United States to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, according to a group of eight humanitarian aid organizations in a joint assessment system, released this Tuesday (12).
“Israel not only failed to meet US criteria that would indicate support for the humanitarian response, but also took actions that drastically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in northern Gaza,” the organizations stated.
The release of the set of assessment criteria comes within the 30-day deadline for action, set by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a letter to the Israeli government last month.
In the document, American officials said Israel must act on more than a dozen concrete steps to improve the “deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
For weeks, aid organizations and agencies have sounded the alarm about “apocalyptic” conditions in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have been carrying out intensive military operations.
On Friday (8), a group of independent experts warned that “there is a strong probability that famine is imminent in areas in the north of the Gaza Strip”.
The system that assesses compliance with the criteria notes that “an estimated 100,000 people were displaced from the northern region to Gaza City and between 75 and 95,000 citizens remain besieged in northern Gaza without medical or food supplies.”
“Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures could have implications for American policy” under a Biden administration national security memorandum as well as the law of the land, the organizations warned.
Section 620i of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act requires the U.S. government to discontinue security assistance to countries that restrict humanitarian assistance provided by the United States.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said last week that he would not “speculate about what may or may not happen” after the 30-day period.
‘People aren’t just skipping meals; they are eating one meal every two days’
According to the aid organizations’ assessment system, there was “non-compliance, significant delays or setbacks” in 15 of the measures described in the letter.
Only “partial or inconsistent implementation” occurred in four of them. Neither measure saw “full or significant progress.”
The evaluation criteria were compiled by Anera, CARE International, MedGlobal, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Refugees International and Save the Children.
They are “based on the observations and experiences of humanitarian organizations on the ground and on publicly available data and secondary sources”.
Measures that were not met, according to the assessment, included allowing a minimum of 350 humanitarian aid trucks per day to enter Gaza and reinstating a minimum of 50–100 commercial trucks per day.
“It’s the kind of lethal combination of no humanitarian assistance and no commercial assistance coming in that’s accelerating the deterioration over the last 30 days,” said Kate Phillips-Barrasso, vice president of global policy and advocacy at Mercy Corps.
“If you’re not seeing movement in one of those two, then it means people won’t have anything to eat. It’s just a very basic equation, right? Nothing to buy, nothing being given, and obviously there is nothing being grown or fished or anything locally, and not to mention it would never support a population of 2 million,” she told CNN.
They are now receiving reports that “people are no longer just skipping meals; they are eating a meal once every two days, and it is mostly canned food,” he added.
“There’s no fresh food,” Phillips-Barrasso said.
The Israeli government has also failed to institute “adequate pauses” to allow for humanitarian activities, to rescind “deployment orders when there is no operational need,” to ensure continued aid access to northern Gaza, or to increase security for humanitarian sites and movements, according to the assessment.
“Frontline responders and teams during the 30-day period,” the organizations said.
“At least 14 aid workers have been killed since October 3, including at least four documented during the 30-day period.”
Furthermore, despite US warnings in the letter and elsewhere, .
A State Department spokesperson warned last month that the role UNRWA plays in Gaza “cannot be filled by anyone else.”
At a press conference last week, Miller said the U.S. made clear to the Israeli government that “there are potential legal and political considerations for the failure to improve the humanitarian assistance situation in Gaza and implement a series of steps we outlined in the letter.”
“We are in active discussion with them — including over the last few days — about the steps they have taken and what else they need to do. And we will make an assessment when we reach the end of the period”, he said on Thursday (7).
The humanitarian scoring system noted that “the effectiveness of international diplomatic efforts to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza depends on the willingness of the United States and other countries to pressure Israel to deliver on these priorities.”
