The following is the text of a letter* sent by the U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense to the Israeli Minister of Defense and Minister of Strategic Affairs on October 13.
The following observations can be made about the letter:
- U.S. officials are familiar with all the details of Israel's military and security moves in the Gaza Strip, contrary to what they have been declaring for a year.
- U.S. officials are aware of Israel's war crimes and crimes against humanity, although they refrain from using these terms in the letter.
- The letter has an imperative tone concerning the measures Israel should take or avoid--the details of which are remarkable--which suggests that the U.S. administration can impose its will on Israel if it wants to. This does not mean that Israel will comply with U.S. instructions; it is more likely to procrastinate and find the usual excuses to partially fulfill U.S. demands.
- The letter is not addressed from the highest policy-maker in the United States (the president) to his counterpart in Israel (the prime minister). The letter and its disclosure are aimed at progressive, Arab- and Muslim-American voters in the current presidential election. These two facts suggest that the U.S. might be satisfied by partial Israeli compliance with its demands.
- The letter strengthens the position of the Jordanian government and international aid organizations in their dealings with the Israeli authorities regarding the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip.
* https://x.com/BarakRavid/status/1846182689222664471
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U.S. Department of State U.S. Department of Defense
October 13, 2024
Yoav Gallant
Minister of Defense
State of Israel
Ron Dermer
Minister of Strategic Affairs
State of Israel
Dear Ministers:
Secretary Blinken's April 19 letter to Minister Gallant noted that in accordance with U.S. law and policy, including National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20)- the Departments of State and Defense must continually assess your government's adherence to your March 2024 assurances that Israel would "facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance and U.S. government-supported international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance" to and within Gaza. The Department of State will need to conduct a similar assessment under section 6201 of the Foreign Assistance Act in order to provide additional Foreign Military Financing assistance to Israel. We are now writing to underscore the U.S. government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory.
The humanitarian situation for over two million civilians in Gaza is increasingly dire. Despite the July transition from combat operations to Special Counterterrorism Operations in the Gaza Strip, multiple evacuation orders have forced 1.7 million people into a narrow coastal zone from Muwasi to Deir al Balah. Extreme overcrowding has put these civilians at high risk of lethal contagion. Humanitarian Implementers report they are unable to meet essential survival needs of aid-dependent civilians. Trucks carrying humanitarian commodities, including perishable goods funded by the United States, are delayed at crossing platforms. We are particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government – including halting commercial imports, denying or impeding nearly 90 percent of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza in September, continuing burdensome and excessive dual-use restrictions, and instituting new vetting and onerous liability and customs requirements for humanitarian staff and shipments – together with increased lawlessness and looting are contributing to an accelerated deterioration in the conditions in Gaza.
Since Israel's assurances in March and the April letter – which produced Important improvements in the provision of humanitarian assistance – the amount of aid delivered has dropped by more than 50 percent. The amount of assistance entering Gaza in September was the lowest of any month during the past year.
Conversely, Israel recently demonstrated with the successful campaign to administer polio vaccines to more than 560,000 children in Gaza what is possible and necessary to ensure civilians in Gaza receive the assistance that they require and that Israel must facilitate.
To reverse the downward humanitarian trajectory and consistent with its assurances to us, Israel must, starting now and within 30 days, act on the following concrete measures. Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for U.S. policy under NSM-20 and relevant U.S. law.
- Ahead of winter, surge all forms of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza by:
- Enabling a minimum of 350 trucks per day to enter Gaza through upholding your prior commitment to allow assistance to enter Gaza consistently through all four major crossings (Erez West, Erez East, Gate 96, and Kerem Shalom), as well as opening a new fifth crossing.
- Instituting adequate humanitarian pauses across Gaza as necessary to enable humanitarian activities, including vaccinations, deliveries, and distribution, for at least the next four months..
- Allowing people in Muwasi and the humanitarian zone to move inland before winter.
- Enhancing security for fixed humanitarian sites and movements.
- Rescinding evacuation orders when there is no operational need.
- Facilitating rapid implementation of the World Food Program winter and logistics plan to repair roads, install warehousing, and expand platforms and staging areas.
- Ensuring Israeli Coordination and Liaison (CLA) officers can communicate with humanitarian convoys at checkpoints and assign division-level liaison officers from Southern Command to the Joint Coordination Board.
- Removing restrictions on the use of container and closed trucks and Increasing the number of vetted drivers to 400.
- Removing an agreed list of essential items from the dual-use restricted list.
- Provide expedited clearance processing at the Port of Ashdod for Gaza- bound humanitarian assistance.
- Ensure that the commercial and Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) corridors are functioning at full and continuous capacity by:
- Waiving customs requirements on the JAF corridor until such time as the UN is able to implement its own process.
- Allowing the JAF to enter the Gaza Strip through the northern crossings, and others as agreed.
- Reinstating a minimum of 50-100 commercial trucks per day.
- End isolation of northern Gaza by:
- Reaffirming that there will be no Israeli government policy of forced evacuation of civilians from northern to southern Gaza.
- Ensuring humanitarian organizations have continuous access to northern Gaza through northern crossings and from southern Gaza.
Relatedly, we are deeply concerned about the potential adoption of Knesset legislation to remove certain privileges and immunities from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and its staff, prohibit official contact with UNRWA, and change the status quo regarding UNRWA In Jerusalem. While we share your concerns about the serious allegations of certain UNRWA employees participating in the October 7 terrorist attacks and of Hamas misusing UNRWA facilities, enactment of such restrictions would devastate the Gaza humanitarian response at this critical moment and deny vital educational and social services to tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which could have implications under relevant U.S. law and policy. We ask that you take all possible steps, whether with lawmakers or using the authorities of the Prime Minister's Office, to ensure this does not come to pass We also urge you to provide UNRWA with additional information regarding these allegations, just as we continue to urge UNRWA to ensure it has a process in place to implement reforms to ensure confidence in the neutrality of UNRWA's personnel.
The April letter underscored it is critical for Israel to continue to demonstrate its strong commitment to meeting its international law obligations related to the conduct of operations against Hamas, including by allowing International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC) access to individuals detained in connection with this conflict and reinvigorating dialogue with the ICRC immediately. Reports of abuses against detainees have only further elevated the importance of Israel doing so, urgently.
Lastly, it is vitally important that our governments establish a new channel through which we can raise and discuss civilian harm incidents. Our engagements to date have not produced the necessary outcomes. We ask that the initial virtual meeting of this channel be held by the end of October.
We again ask for your urgent intervention and leadership to address this situation.
Sincerely,
Antony J. Blinken Lloyd J. Austin III
Secretary of State Secretary of Defense
