By Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Dozens of U.S. president’s lawmakers Joe BidenThe Democratic Party told him on Friday that it believes there is enough evidence to show that Israel violated US law by restricting humanitarian aid flows to war-torn Gaza.
A letter to Biden signed by 86 House Democrats said the restrictions on Israel’s aid “call into question” his assurances that he was complying with a provision of the US Foreign Assistance Act that requires recipients of weapons financed by the US respect international humanitarian law and allow free flows of weapons. US assistance.
Those written assurances were required by a national security memorandum that Biden issued in February, after Democratic lawmakers began questioning whether Israel was upholding international law in its operations in Gaza.
Lawmakers said the Israeli government had resisted repeated U.S. requests to open sufficient sea and land routes for aid to Gaza, and cited reports that it had not allowed in enough food to prevent famine, applied “arbitrary restrictions” on aid and imposed an inspection system. which prevented supply.
“We hope the administration will ensure (Israel’s) compliance with existing law and take all conceivable measures to prevent further humanitarian catastrophes in Gaza,” the lawmakers wrote.
Biden’s memo requires Secretary of State Antony Blinken to report to Congress by Wednesday on whether he finds Israel’s assurances that the use of US weapons complies with international law credible.
At least four State Department offices informed Blinken last month that they considered Israel’s assurances “neither credible nor trustworthy.”
If Israel’s assurances are called into question, Biden would have the option to “remedy” the situation through actions ranging from seeking new assurances to suspending US arms transfers, according to the memo.
UN SAYS HUNGER IS ADVANCING IN GAZA
Israel denies violating international law and limiting aid in its war against Hamas militants, in power in Gaza, which was triggered by the October 7 attack on Israel, in which they killed more than 1,200 people and captured more than 200 hostages .
More than 34,000 Palestinians have died in nearly seven months of fighting, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has devastated the coastal enclave and left most of the 2.3 million population displaced amid dire food and water shortages. .
UN World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain told NBC News that there was now “total famine” in northern Gaza.
In excerpts from an interview to be broadcast Sunday on Meet the Press, McCain told NBC he hopes a ceasefire agreement can be reached so that more aid can be delivered more quickly.
“There is famine – total famine – in the north, and it is moving south. And so what we ask for and what we continually ask for is a ceasefire and the ability to have unfettered access,” said McCain, the widow of the late Senator John McCain.
US officials say that although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has taken steps to boost the delivery of aid, the amounts remain insufficient.
The lawmakers also condemned the Hamas attack on October 7 in their letter, endorsed Israel’s right to exist and expressed support for US efforts to mediate a ceasefire and a second hostage release.
Israel, they noted, has recently opened more aid routes and crossing points into Gaza, which has allowed more aid trucks to enter.
But lawmakers expressed “serious concerns” about Israel’s conduct of the war “as it relates to the deliberate withholding of humanitarian aid.”
They urged Biden to “make clear” to Netanyahu “that as long as Israel directly or indirectly restricts” aid to Gaza, “the Israeli government will be risking its eligibility for further U.S. offensive security assistance.”
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay, editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
