Israel fails to meet US aid demands to ease Gaza catastrophe, aid groups say

The United States told its ally Israel that it must take steps to improve the aid situation within 30 days. If not, it could face potential restrictions on US military aid.

By REUTERS NOVEMBER 12, 2024 11:35 Updated: NOVEMBER 12, 2024 11:37

An Israeli soldier stands guard as a truck carrying humanitarian aid makes its way to the Gaza Strip at Erez Crossing in southern Israel, May 5, 2024. (photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)

International aid groups said that Israel had failed to meet a series of US demands intended to improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by a Tuesday deadline.

The United States told its ally Israel in a letter on Oct. 13 that it must take steps to improve the aid situation within 30 days. If not, it could face potential restrictions on US military aid.

"Israel not only failed to meet the US criteria that would indicate support to the humanitarian response but concurrently took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in Northern Gaza," a group of eight aid groups, including Oxfam, Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council said in a 19-page report.

For more than a month, the IDF has been pushing deeper into north Gaza, surrounding hospitals and shelters filled used by Hamas terrorists and creating fresh waves of displacement in an operation designed to prevent Hamas from regrouping there.

Warning from experts 

On Friday, global food security experts released a rare warning of imminent famine in parts of northern Gaza unless immediate steps were taken to ease the situation.

A GAZAN driver loads humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip, at the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, last month. The constantly echoed mantra charged that Israel was deliberately preventing humanitarian aid from entering, says the writer. (credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)

Israel said on Monday it had met most of the US demands. Some things remain under discussion, and they touch on safety issues, an Israeli official told reporters.

Other measures, including the opening of a new crossing into Gaza, have been implemented. The IDF said on Tuesday that hundreds of food and water packages had been sent to parts of northern Gaza during a coordinated operation.

Washington has not yet commented on whether its conditions have been met. Last week, the State Department said Israel had taken some measures to increase aid access to Gaza but had so far failed to significantly turn around the humanitarian situation.