The U.S. government’s two foremost authorities on
humanitarian assistance concluded this spring that Israel had deliberately
blocked deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza.
The U.S. Agency for International Development delivered its
assessment to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department’s
refugees bureau made its stance known to top diplomats in late April. Their
conclusion was explosive because U.S. law requires the government to cut off
weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed
humanitarian aid. Israel has been largely dependent on American bombs and other
weapons in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
But Blinken and the administration of President Joe Biden did
not accept either finding. Days later, on May 10, Blinken delivered a carefully
worded statement to Congress that said, “We do not currently assess that the
Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or
delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.”
Prior to his report, USAID had sent Blinken a detailed
17-page memo on Israel’s conduct. The memo described instances of Israeli
interference with aid efforts, including killing aid workers, razing
agricultural structures, bombing ambulances and hospitals, sitting on supply
depots and routinely turning away trucks full of food and medicine.
Lifesaving food was stockpiled less than 30 miles across the
border in an Israeli port, including enough flour to feed about 1.5 million
Palestinians for five months, according to the memo. But in February the
Israeli government had prohibited the transfer of flour, saying
its recipient was the United Nations’ Palestinian branch that had been
accused of having ties with Hamas.
Separately, the head of the State Department’s Bureau of
Population, Refugees and Migration had also determined that Israel was blocking
humanitarian aid and that the Foreign Assistance Act should be triggered to
freeze almost $830 million in taxpayer dollars earmarked for weapons and bombs
to Israel, according to emails obtained by ProPublica.
The
U.N. has declared a famine in parts of Gaza. The world’s leading
independent panel
of aid experts found that nearly half of the Palestinians in the
enclave are struggling with hunger. Many go days without eating. Local
authorities say dozens of children have starved to death — likely a
significant undercount. Health care workers are battling a lack of
immunizations compounded by a sanitation crisis. Last month, a little boy
became Gaza’s first confirmed case of polio in 25 years.
The USAID officials wrote that because of Israel’s behavior,
the U.S. should pause additional arms sales to the country. ProPublica obtained
a copy of the agency’s April memo along with the list of evidence that the
officials cited to back up their findings.
USAID, which is led by longtime diplomat Samantha Power, said
the looming famine in Gaza was the result of Israel’s “arbitrary denial,
restriction, and impediments of U.S. humanitarian assistance,” according to the
memo. It also acknowledged Hamas had played a role in the humanitarian crisis.
USAID, which receives overall policy guidance from the secretary of state, is
an independent agency responsible for international development and disaster
relief. The agency had for months tried and failed to deliver enough food and
medicine to a starving and desperate Palestinian population.
It is, USAID concluded, “one of the worst humanitarian
catastrophes in the world.”
In response to detailed questions for this story, the State
Department said that it had pressured the Israelis to increase the flow of aid.
“As we made clear in May when [our] report was released, the US had deep
concerns during the period since October 7 about action and inaction by Israel
that contributed to a lack of sustained delivery of needed humanitarian
assistance,” a spokesperson wrote. “Israel subsequently took steps to
facilitate increased humanitarian access and aid flow into Gaza.” […]
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