WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 - The Joe Biden administration confirmed Tuesday that the U.S. secretaries of state and defense have signed a letter sent Sunday to their Israeli counterparts urging Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within the next 30 days.
During Tuesday's press briefing, a State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller confirmed to reporters a letter jointly signed by Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin and addressed to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. the letter was aimed at "to express our concern about the level of humanitarian aid that is reaching Gaza," Miller said, adding that the United States considers the letter "for private diplomatic communications that we did not intend to disclose".
According to a CNN report, the letter warned that unless Israel makes more humanitarian aid available to Gazans, it risks violating US laws governing foreign military aid. As a result, U.S. military aid to Israel could be jeopardized.
The letter states that under U.S. law, the State and Defense Departments must continually assess whether Israel is complying with its assurances that it will not restrict the flow of aid to Gaza.
The 30-day deadline given by the United States means that any consequences if Israel does not heed the US warning will not come until after the US presidential election on 5 November.
Spokesman for the US National Security Council John Kirbyasked for an explanation of the deadline, referred reporters to the State Department, adding that the Biden administration had also sent a letter to Israel in April in which "made a similar request for specific action on humanitarian aid".
Kirby said that the last letter "related to the recent reduction" the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. "But it's not as if we didn't communicate these concerns to the Israelis in writing earlier," He added.
XINHUA/ gnews - RoZ_07
PHOTO - Xinhua/ Marwan Dawood
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