The State Department said Tuesday that Israel has not violated U.S. law regarding the provision and access of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, despite pushback from aid groups and the United Nations.
The United Nations and aid groups have warned that Palestinians have dire access to food, health care and shelter.
The U.S. assessment comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin urged the Israeli government to take concrete steps to increase the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Strip or risk risking it. It was announced at the end of a 30-day schedule that warned that it would cause Blocking U.S. arms deliveries under federal law.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Tuesday: “At this time, we have not assessed that the Israelis have violated U.S. law.”
“Israel has taken a number of steps to address the measures outlined in the letter sent by Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin in early October. We continue to discuss these steps we have taken and any additional steps we believe still need to be taken.”
The U.S. assessment comes after eight international aid agencies said Israel did not meet the standards set out by Blinken and Austin. They said Israel had taken actions that “dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in northern Gaza.” Associated Press reported.
