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As the war between Israel and
Hamas rages on, the human cost of the conflict has become devastatingly clear. But Israel’s blockade of most humanitarian aid from entering northern Gaza is not merely an inevitable byproduct of war — it appears to be a calculated strategy that punishes an already impoverished and besieged civilian population. This week, the Biden administration objected. But its lack of actual action is enabling the worsening catastrophe.
Northern Gaza was suffering from a critical lack of food and other supplies long before Israel cut off most humanitarian aid shipments on Oct. 1. Now, only a trickle of food aid is getting through to the 400,000 civilians unable or unwilling to evacuate south. On Monday, 28 trucks of aid crossed into northern Gaza through Israeli-controlled checkpoints, including the first deliveries this month of wheat flour for the World Food Program’s four remaining bakeries in northern Gaza. On Tuesday, 50 more trucks were allowed in by an Israeli inspection process that aid workers call intentionally onerous. This is a drop in an ocean of need.
“The situation in northern Gaza is getting steadily worse,” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain told me Wednesday. “The level of aid entering Gaza as a whole is at its lowest level in months … . People have run out of ways to cope, food systems have collapsed, and there is no doubt that the risk of famine is still there.”
In southern and central Gaza, the situation is also at a breaking point, McCain said. The flow of aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing point in southern Gaza has slowed because of a breakdown of security, and an additional 1.1 million people could face food shortages as a result. As the winter months approach, most Gazans find themselves with no adequate shelter, no fuel and little aid.
“We need sustained and unrestricted access. And we need safety to be able to deliver food to the large numbers of people in need,” McCain said. “I am deeply worried about the safety and security of WFP’s team on the ground.”
Denying civilians humanitarian aid is a
contravention of the orders of the International Court of Justice. But beyond that, U.S. law bans military arms transfers to countries it determines are not complying with international humanitarian law.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
wrote to their Israeli counterparts to express the U.S. government’s “deep concern” with the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and warn that the U.S. government will make such a determination in 30 days.
According to the letter, Israel has been impeding nearly 90 percent of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza since September, while also halting commercial imports, imposing excessive restrictions on aid deliveries and imposing new restrictions on humanitarian aid organizations.In their letter, Blinken and Austin also wrote that Israel must not
enact legislation that would seek to end the operations of UNRWA, the largest aid distributor in Gaza,
by stripping it of its privileges and protections, despite allegations that some UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. The Biden administration is demanding Israel to allow a minimum of 350 trucks of humanitarian aid per day enter Gaza, or risk consequences.
The United States can’t just stand by as Israel starves northern Gaza
Still, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reason to be skeptical of the Biden administration’s threats. In April, Blinken and Austin sent a similar letter to the Israeli government, which made
minor improvements in response. But in May, after hearing from its own development experts that Israel was, in fact, violating international law, the Biden administration overruled them in a report that stated the United States did not currently assess military aid restrictions were necessary.
The Israeli government continues to claim that it bears no responsibility for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said Wednesday that Israel has gone “above and beyond our obligations” with regard to international humanitarian law. But some members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have seemed to indicate a darker motive. In August, Israeli Finance Minister
Bezalel Smotrich said that “it may be just and moral” to starve 2 million Gaza residents until Israeli hostages are returned. Britain
is consideringsanctions against Smotrich over the remark.
The
Associated Press reported Monday that Netanyahu was considering a plan to seal off northern Gaza to humanitarian aid by declaring any civilians who don’t evacuate as combatants. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant
reportedly told Austin Sunday that Israel would not adopt a “starvation plan.” Some Israeli nongovernmental organizations believe that the Netanyahu government is already implementing one.
The Biden administration created a moral hazard by threatening a cutoff of military assistance in April but then not following through when Israel didn’t comply. By setting a new 30-day deadline, the Biden team is kicking the can down the road until after the presidential election, after which
Joe Biden will be under even less domestic pressure to get tough with Netanyahu.
Israel’s right to defend itself does not extend to strangling an entire region’s access to basic humanitarian aid. Biden promised to restore America’s moral leadership. But that promise is meaningless if it doesn’t extend to the millions of Palestinians whose lives hang in the balance. Biden has only a few months left in office in which to act.
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