US Calls on Israel To Allow More Humanitarian Aid Into Gaza
The Biden Administration is threading a needle in its Israel policy, vetoing a Security Council resolution that called for a cease-fire while insisting on increased humanitarian aid to Gaza and greater efforts to avoid civilian casualties
Recent statements indicate the Biden Administration is pressuring Israel in its conflict with Hamas.
At a news conference last Thursday with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a “gap” remains between Israel’s intent to minimize civilian casualties and the reality on the ground.
It remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection
“As we stand here, almost a week into this campaign in the south after the end of the humanitarian pause … it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection,” Blinken said.
To enhance civilian protection, Blinken suggested Israel could better communicate where safe areas would be located in Gaza, pause fighting for longer periods, and ensure that humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians fleeing to safety.
On Friday, the US vetoed a UN resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, which was backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations. Supporters of the resolution lamented its failure to pass and warned of more civilian deaths and destruction as the war enters its third month.
An emergency meeting was convened by the Security Council to hear from UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, which enables a UN chief to call attention to threats to international peace and security. He warned of a looming “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged the council to demand a cease-fire.
Guterres said he raised Article 99—which hadn’t been used since 1971—because “there is a high risk of the total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza.” He noted the UN’s anticipation of “a complete breakdown of public order and a surge in mass displacement into Egypt.”
He described Gaza as being at “a breaking point,” with desperate Palestinians at serious risk of starvation. Guterres said that Hamas’ brutality against Israelis on Oct. 7 “can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
“While indiscriminate rocket fire by Hamas into Israel, and the use of civilians as human shields, are in contravention of the laws of war, such conduct does not absolve Israel of its own violations,” he stressed.
Despite these concerns, the US maintains public support for Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Lately, the Biden Administration has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to increase humanitarian aid access to Gaza, as desperate conditions in the enclave grow worse. Civilian deaths in Gaza are rising and aid groups warn of shortages of water, food, and medicine.
Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt are effectively sealed, leaving Palestinians with no option other than to try to seek refuge within the territory. The health sector in the strip is on the verge of collapse due to a lack of medical supplies and fuel.
A vital interest of the United States is the elimination of Hamas as a viable source of threat
Former Israeli Ambassador to Washington Danny Ayalon assured The Media Line that the US-Israeli alliance remains “fine.”
Ayalon said that the US is on the same page as Israel, seeing as the end goal of the war hasn’t changed.
“A vital interest of the United States is the elimination of Hamas as a viable source of threat that has proven itself to be a major obstacle for any future vision that the United States has for the region,” Ayalon said.
He noted that while Biden’s and Netanyahu’s visions for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may diverge, the two agree that any such vision cannot come to fruition “with Hamas standing on its feet.”
Ayalon noted that the Biden Administration is seeking “political legitimacy,” as progressives in the Democratic Party are calling for a cease-fire.
He explained that Biden, not wanting to impede Israel’s efforts in Gaza, did not go so far as to call for a cease-fire. But Biden did respond to political pressure from the left by calling for more humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza, he noted.
“By doing so, he balances the criticism in some quarters in the United States against the war,” Ayalon said.
Besides advocating for increased humanitarian aid in Gaza, American officials also insist Israel should reduce civilian casualties.
The Biden Administration is under growing pressure at home and abroad as it works to convince Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians. Israeli officials assert, however, that the White House is not imposing a deadline for ending the Gaza offensive.
Professor Eytan Gilboa, an expert on the US at Bar-Ilan University and senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told The Media Line that Israel and the US agree that Hamas must be removed from power, which can happen only by force.
He said that the US points to the war’s international legitimacy in its case for increasing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Israel, on the other hand, is concerned that aid will fall into the hands of Hamas members.
Gilboa said that US pressure on Israel is a result of the Biden Administration’s attempt to win back progressive and Muslim voters.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health, Israel’s military campaign has killed 17,400 Gazans, 70% of whom are women and children, and wounded more than 46,000. Many others are trapped under rubble.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.
With a temporary truce in Gaza now out of the question, US officials have again called on Israel to limit civilian casualties in its offensive on Gaza.
Netanyahu has indicated that Israel wants to assert “security control” over Gaza by creating a buffer zone, something the US and international community has rejected.
Israel occupied Gaza from 1967 until 2005, when it unilaterally withdrew from the territory.
The conflict has threatened to spark regional tensions, with deadly cross-border exchanges intensifying between the Israeli army and Lebanon’s Hizbullah movement. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and other Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq have attacked US interests in the region, invoking Israel’s war on Gaza.
The Houthis have threatened to prevent any ship heading to Israeli ports from passing through the Red Sea or the Arabian Sea.
Daifallah Al-Shami, minister of information in the Houthi government, told The Media Line that the Houthis “will not allow any ships headed for the Zionist entity unless the blockade is lifted on Gaza and there is resumption of food, medicine, and aid to Gaza.”
According to the most recent Israeli figures, the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which sparked the war, killed almost 1,400 people, mostly civilians. Thousands more were wounded and around 250 people were taken hostage. Close to 100 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip ground operation.
