'More needs to be done': US says Israel has not met all demands to boost aid to Gaza

Humanitarian groups say Israel has partially complied with only four of Washington's 19 demands

Aid groups have warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is worsening. Reuters

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Israel has taken steps to increase the flow of aid into Gaza but more needs to be done, the US said on Tuesday as a 30-day deadline to address the humanitarian crisis expired.

Last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin wrote to Israeli ministers demanding they take action to improve the entry of aid into the besieged enclave. That letter, dated October 13, gave Israel 30 days to make improvements or else face a potential hold on weapons supply.

“We, at this time, have not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of the US law,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

Pentagon press secretary Maj Gen Pat Ryder said Israel had taken several steps to address some of the measures laid out in that letter, including a commitment to reopen the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza and approve new aid delivery routes.

"But as Secretary Austin and others have said, we also believe that more needs to be done," he told reporters.

The US assessment is at odds with eight aid organisations, which said on Tuesday that Israel had partially complied with only four of 19 demands laid out in the letter. Failing to meet the stipulations set out by President Joe Biden's administration, which include allowing 350 aid lorries into Gaza each day and ending evictions from the north to the south of the enclave, could have resulted in limited arms transfers to Israel.

The deadline comes as the UN issues yet more dire warnings of impending famine in Gaza. Questions have also been raised about whether Mr Biden will become more insistent towards Israel in his final weeks in office, after months of frustration over the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Joyce Msuya, interim chief of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the Security Council on Tuesday that the world is witnessing “acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes” in Gaza, where conditions are “unfit for human survival”.

"Most of Gaza is now a wasteland of rubble. What distinction was made, and what precautions were taken, if more than 70 per cent of civilian housing is either damaged or destroyed?" Ms Msuya said.

Mr Blinken met Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, in Washington on Monday to discuss the government's efforts to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Mr Dermer updated him on "operational changes" made by the Israeli military and Cogat – the Defence Ministry body overseeing logistical co-ordination with the Gaza Strip – and "policy decisions taken by the government of Israel to address the measures included in the letter”, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Mr Miller said Mr Blinken "emphasised the importance of ensuring those changes lead to an actual improvement in the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, including through the delivery of additional assistance to civilians throughout Gaza”.

Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday approved measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, The Times of Israel reported. But on Tuesday, in Beit Hanoun in Gaza's north-east, Israeli forces evicted residents from the area and ordered them to move south, only hours after allowing a few aid lorries to enter. Artillery shelling resumed shortly afterwards, attacking shelters and homes as residents were forced to flee towards Gaza city.

Gaza residents were given eviction orders, followed by Israeli bombardment. AFP

Several displaced people were injured while crossing the Civil Administration checkpoint east of Jabalia on Salah Al Din Street, witnesses told The National.

“The occupation deceived the residents of Beit Hanoun, allowing minimal aid yesterday – just enough for a few families – giving people false hope that they were safe," Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said. "But at dawn, the army stormed the shelters and forcibly displaced them."

Muhannad Shabat, 23, resident of Beit Hanoun, watched as three aid lorries were brought in alongside a UN delegation, suggesting it was a prelude to invasion rather than a humanitarian effort. “This occupation policy is despicable and full of lies,” he told The National. "The aid that came in was nowhere near enough for anyone. There are hundreds of families here and it wouldn’t even cover 10 per cent of them."

Mr Shabat said that after the aid arrived about sunset, heavy artillery and air strikes began near dawn. “Occupation forces advanced, with drones targeting the shelters. After a while, they stormed the schools, separating the men from the women. We were at home near by, hearing everything,” he said. “We’re still here, more than 30 of us in one house, mostly women and children. We’re afraid the house could be shelled or invaded at any moment."

Mr Basal said Israel's actions represented a pattern of behaviour already seen in northern Gaza.

Palestinians displaced from Beit Hanoun cross the main Salah Al Din Road into Jabalia in northern Gaza. AFP

"What happened in Beit Hanoun also previously took place at Kamal Adwan Hospital during the ongoing Israeli military operation," he said. "The occupation allowed a World Health Organisation delegation to enter, only to later raid the hospital, detain and mistreat medical staff and destroy parts of the facility," he said.

Israeli forces continued to besiege shelters housing thousands of displaced people in Beit Hanoun on Tuesday, forcing displacement under heavy artillery fire and gunfire. Mr Basal said up to 800 families were still sheltering in the city, whose prewar population was more than 50,000.

Speaking to a Geneva media briefing via video-link from Gaza, Louise Wateridge, an UNRWA emergencies officer, said "the average for October was 37 trucks a day into the entire Gaza Strip ... that is for 2.2 million people".

"Children are dying, people are dying every day," she said, stressing that "people here need everything".

Oxfam, Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council were among the eight groups to have accused Israel of “actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in northern Gaza”.

Palestinians take humanitarian aid from lorries in Gaza, which faces a looming threat of famine. AP

Their report, which lists whether a US demand was fully, partially or not at all met, said Israel had partially carried out the stipulation to let more people into a “humanitarian zone” before winter. Israel also partially allowed previously banned aid items to be included in shipments.

Washington, along with many of Israel’s allies, has for months joined humanitarian organisations in calling on the country to increase aid supplies into Gaza. The Biden administration has faced accusations of hypocrisy for failing to use its significant influence over Israel, most notably by restricting the amount of weapons Israel receives from Washington.

Mr Austin, the Pentagon chief, held a “sharp” phone call with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz last week about the humanitarian situation Gaza and the looming deadline. Mr Austin said the US could limit arms transfers if Israel failed to demonstrate an increase in access and distribution of aid, Israel's Channel 12 reported.

But Israel’s new Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, appeared to play down the deadline, telling reporters on Monday that he was confident “the issue would be solved.”

Hundreds of aid lorries are sitting in the south of Gaza undistributed as Israeli military restrictions and a dangerous environment make it difficult to reach, the UN said.