The letter is the most thorough public condemnation of Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid to Gaza that the Biden administration has yet to issue. The agreement, which was signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, was supposed to be kept secret until it was leaked to Israeli media.
It serves as a model for a completely new strategy that Israel will use to speed up the humanitarian effort in Gaza instead of putting restrictions on it. The letter examines Israel’s forced transfer of residents and its blocking of humanitarian deliveries line by line.
It even calls into question Israel’s long-standing assault on UNRWA, the UN organization responsible for caring for Palestinian refugees.
Proposed new rules that would “remove certain privileges and immunities” have the US “extremely concerned.” In order to build a Jewish colony on the property, an Israeli government minister seeks to seize UNRWA’s headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem.
