Israel's Deadline Increases Access To Humanitarian Aid Ends, US Values Progress

Humanitarian aid trucks enter Gaza. (Source: Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - President Joe Biden's administration assesses Israel has made a number of advances, but wants more improvements to be made, as the deadline for improving access to humanitarian aid ends last Tuesday.

Israel has given Israel 30 days to take special steps that must take within 30 days to address the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

The list of steps that must be taken in the letter of the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin dated October 13. Failure to do so could have an impact on US military assistance to Israel, they said in the letter.

On Tuesday, when the deadline stated in the letter expired, deputy State Department spokeswoman Vedant Patel repeatedly refused to say whether the criteria had been met.

However, he told reporters Israel had taken steps to address the demands and Washington would continue to assess the situation.

"We have seen some progress that has been made. We want to see some more changes happen. We believe that if it weren't for US intervention, this change might never have happened," Patel said, adding Washington would continue to assess Israel's compliance with US law. November 13.

Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a briefing on November 4, although Israel had taken steps to increase access to aid, results on the ground in Gaza were not good enough.

Foreign Minister Blinken in a meeting with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Monday also stressed the need for Israeli measures to lead to improvements on the ground.

Patel declined to say why Washington chose to make its assessment based on Israeli measures to address the matter, not results on the ground, which US officials have repeatedly said will be their benchmark.

Yesterday, Patel said Israel had taken several steps, including reopening the Erez crossing, exempting certain customs requirements, and opening additional shipping routes in Gaza.

As previously reported, a number of international aid organizations in their report yesterday said Israel failed to comply with Uncle Sam's demands regarding increasing access to greater humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The report compiled by the eight organizations lists 19 compliance measures against US demands. The report states that Israel failed to comply with 15 steps and has only complied with part of the four steps, quoted from The Times of Israel.

"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.

"That situation was even worse today than a month ago," the report continued.

President Biden, whose term is coming to an end, has provided strong support to Israel since the Hamas-led group attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and holding more than 250 people hostage.

Meanwhile, Gaza's health authorities confirmed on Tuesday that the death toll from Palestine since the latest conflict broke out last year has reached 43,665 and 103,076 others injured, with the majority of victims being women and children, quoted from WAFA.