The Biden administration is giving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government 30 days to improve the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip or face an arms embargo — a daunting obstacle as Israel fights a two-front war against Hamas and Hezbollah, both backed by Iran.
The White House laid out its demands in what was supposed to be a private letter from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, the Israeli news channel N12 reported Tuesday.
“Failure to implement these measures may lead to consequences for United States policy,” the message stated.
The Oct. 13 letter said the humanitarian situation for more than two million civilians in Gaza was “increasingly dire” and noted that humanitarian groups have become unable to meet the needs of the Palestinians who require assistance.
“Trucks carrying humanitarian commodities, including perishable goods funded by the United States, are delayed at crossing platforms,” the letter stated. “We are particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government … are contributing to an accelerated deterioration in the conditions in Gaza.”
The White House is demanding that “concrete steps” be taken within the next month to reverse the trend.
“Failure to implement these measures may lead to consequences for United States policy,” the letter stated.
It was an unusually sharp rebuke aimed at a critical ally facing threats on multiple fronts. The Biden administration has tried to walk a fine line, expressing full-throated support for the right of Israel to defend itself while facing increasing unhappiness with many of the policies of the Netanyahu government.
The Biden administration said Tuesday it believed it had made progress on another front with Israel, saying privately it has won assurances from Mr. Netanyahu’s government that it will not hit Iranian nuclear or oil sites as it looks to strike back following Iran’s missile barrage earlier this month, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press.
The region has been bracing for an expected response from Israel after Iran launched roughly 180 ballistic missiles on Oct. 1, which the United States helped to fend off, the AP reported.
On Tuesday, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh confirmed that Mr. Austin and Mr. Blinken cosigned a letter to their Israeli counterparts. However, she said the letter was a private correspondence and not meant for the public.
“It was expressing concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza,” she told reporters at the Pentagon. “I’m just not going to be able to provide more details.”
She said the concerns addressed in the letter have been regularly raised by U.S. officials with their Israeli counterparts.
“Those are some of the things that [Mr. Austin] talks about in his calls with Minister Gallant,” Ms. Singh said. “This letter follows a letter that I believe Secretary Blinken sent in April. We want to see how [Israel] conducts operations about how they’re considering civilians in the battle space.”
Cutting off Israel’s weapons would be a dramatic shift in U.S. policy. While the White House did suspend the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel amid anxiety over the impact in Gaza, it has provided extensive military support to Jerusalem following the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre by Palestinian Hamas militants — a terrorist rampage that ignited the latest round of Middle East fighting.
The Pentagon this week announced the decision to send Israel a battery of the THAAD air defense system, used for intercepting ballistic missiles, to help defend against attacks from Iran.
State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the Blinken-Austin letter essentially restated U.S. humanitarian law and that the administration was not looking to curb the flow of military aid to Israel.
“Our hope is that Israel will make the changes that we have outlined and that we have recommended, and that the result of those changes will be a dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance,” Mr. Miller said. “Ultimately we are focused on the bottom line here.”
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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