The U.S. State Department will not withhold arms from Israel, according to department officials, a month after the White House sent a letter to Israel stating the Jewish state had 30 days to improve humanitarian conditions for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip or be subject to an embargo.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken seemed to indicate that the requirements had been met. According to a readout of his meeting with visiting Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, the two men “reviewed steps that Israel has taken to improve the dire humanitarian situation inside Gaza,” including a recent Gaza aid package approved by the Israeli Cabinet.
The following day at a press briefing, Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson, was pressed for a concrete answer. He stated that Israel had taken “a number of steps to address the measures laid out in the letter,” and as such, “we at this time have not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of U.S. law.”
When asked whether Israel would face any consequences, Patel responded: “I certainly don’t have a change in U.S. policy to announce today.”
He added that Israel still must take “additional steps” to improve the humanitarian conditions in the coastal enclave, echoing Blinken’s earlier conversation, which stated that Israel must ensure “those changes lead to an actual improvement in the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
Blinken reaffirmed America’s “ironclad” commitment to Israel.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the same in a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the White House on Tuesday, saying his administration’s “commitment to Israel is ironclad, and we share a deep friendship.”
The top U.S. diplomat told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that, while Israel has taken steps to meet Washington’s demands for increased aid to Gaza, further actions are still required, Reuters reported.
“We need to see real, extended pauses in large parts of Gaza—pauses in all fighting and combat—so that aid can effectively reach those in need,” said the outgoing secretary of state.
He noted that Jerusalem has acted on 12 of the 15 measures the Biden administration requested, but “three significant issues” remain—implementing extended pauses in combat, allowing commercial trucks into Gaza and lifting evacuation orders to enable people to return to areas where Israeli operations have concluded.
“Short of ending the war, which we believe it’s time to move toward, we need to see these humanitarian steps fully enacted,” Blinken said.
President-elect Donald Trump also spoke with Dermer at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The minister conveyed messages to Trump from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, discussing Israel’s plans in Gaza and Lebanon as it continues to battle Hamas and Hezbollah amid ongoing tensions with Iran.
Dermer also met with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser.
