A senior US official responsible for the humanitarian situation in Gaza said in August that Washington was not considering suspending arms sales to Israel, even as it blocked humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza, Politico writes, citing detailed notes from the meeting and the words of several of its participants.
According to their data, on August 29, at a meeting in Washington Liz GrandeThe head of the US humanitarian mission told the leaders of more than a dozen aid organizations that Washington could consider alternative methods to pressure Israel through the UN to allow the delivery of food and medicine to Gaza. However, he highlighted that the presidential administration joe biden It will continue to support Israel and will not delay or cut off military supplies.
According to one of the participants in the meeting, Grande noted that Israel is among a “close circle of few allies” against whom the United States will not act, adding that with respect to those allies, the United States “cannot play the role of bad cop.” .”
Although these statements were made more than a month ago, they raise questions about the seriousness of the Biden administration’s recent threats to cut off arms sales to Israel if the humanitarian situation does not improve. On Sunday the Secretary of State Antonio Blinken and the head of the Pentagon lloyd austin sent a letter to Israel threatening to suspend military supplies unless the humanitarian aid situation in Gaza improves significantly. Israel was given 30 days to correct the situation.
An Israeli representative told the newspaper that the country takes the letter seriously and intends to discuss the issues raised with its American counterparts. However, the State Department clarified that the deadline given to Israel was reasonable for the country to eliminate problems associated with the delivery of humanitarian aid.
