Israel has failed to meet demands from the United States to allow greater access for humanitarian aid to the war-torn Gaza Strip. International humanitarian organizations drew attention to this on Tuesday, writes TASR according to the AP agency.
The US has warned that failure to comply with this commitment could lead to a curtailment of US military support to Israel. Israel therefore announced several steps to improve the situation in the Gaza Strip. Still, in recent days, U.S. officials have indicated that it still isn’t enough. But they did not say whether they would take action against Israel.
Israel did not fulfill most of them
According to AP, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar played down the deadline in front of journalists on Monday. He is convinced that this “issue” will be resolved.
A report published on Tuesday by eight international humanitarian organizations lists 19 measures to meet US demands. According to them, Israel fulfilled four only partially and failed to fulfill 15.
The Oct. 13 letter, signed by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, demands, among other things, that Israel allow at least 350 truckloads of goods into Gaza each day, open a fifth border crossing, and allow people in Israel ordered coastal tent camps to move inland before winter.
In addition, it was supposed to ensure access for humanitarian groups to the northern part of the Gaza Strip and suspended legislation that would have hindered the activities of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
UNRWA ban
Israel has since banned UNRWA from operating on its territory, aid levels are still below the levels required by the US, residents remain in tented camps and humanitarian access to northern Gaza is restricted. However, the promised fifth border crossing is to be opened on Tuesday.
“Not only did Israel fail to meet the US criteria that would indicate support for a humanitarian response, but at the same time it took steps that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, especially in the northern part of Gaza. This situation is in an even worse state today than a month ago,” the organizations pointed out.
NGOs Anera, Care, MedGlobal, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Oxfam, Refugees International and Save the Children signed the report.
