Israel's Value Of International Aid Group Fails To Meet The Target For Increased Access To Assistance To Gaza

JAKARTA - Israel failed to meet the demands of the United States to increase access to greater humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, where conditions are worse than any point in a war that has lasted for 13 months, the international aid organization said.

The US government under President Joe Biden last month asked Israel to "add" more food and other emergency aid to the Palestinian territories, giving it a 30-day deadline ending Tuesday, quoted from The Times of Israel November 12.

The Washington government warned that failures to comply could trigger US laws requiring it to reduce military support as Israel launched attacks on Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel has announced a series of steps to improve the situation.

However, US officials recently hinted Israel still haven't done enough, although they haven't said whether they will take action or not.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar told reporters yesterday he believed "the matter will be solved."

Today's report, compiled by eight international aid organizations, lists 19 compliance measures against US demands. The report stated that Israel failed to comply with 15 steps and had only complied with part of the four steps.

"Israel not only failed to meet US criteria indicating support for humanitarian responses, but also taking action that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in northern Gaza," the report said. "The situation is even worse today than a month ago," the report continued.

Israel earlier on Tuesday said it had opened new crossings to allow more aid to enter Gaza.

Separately, COGAT, Israel's military agency in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, said the decline in the number of aid trucks in October was due to the closure of the crossing to the Jewish Day and warnings marking the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which sparked war.

"October is a very weak month," an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity in accordance with military briefing rules.

"But if we look at the numbers in November, we hold on to about 50 trucks per day to northern Gaza and 150 trucks per day to other Gaza regions," he said.