WASHINGTON, 29 April. - (ANA) - Israel is in violation of a White House directive requiring recipients of American military assistance to comply with international humanitarian law and permit the unimpeded delivery of U.S.-funded humanitarian support, USAID officials concluded in a confidential United States paper reviewed by Devex.

 

The findings earlier this month follow the Feb. 8 issuance of a national security memo from the White House instructing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “obtain credible and reliable written assurances” from U.S. weapons recipients that they will abide by international humanitarian law, and report those findings to the White House and Congress. In Israel’s case, it would only apply to offensive weapons.

 

In a submission to Blinken, USAID “assesses the government of Israel (GOI) does not currently demonstrate necessary compliance” with the memo’s requirement that it facilitate and not impede “the transport of delivery of United States humanitarian assistance” as well as U.S.-backed international efforts to provide relief.

 

The USAID paper also voiced “serious concerns that the killing of nearly 32,000 people, of which the GOI itself assesses roughly two-thirds are civilians, may well amount to a violation of the international humanitarian law.” But it added that a final determination would be subject “to detailed analysis” by U.S. government lawyers. The current death toll has risen to over 34,000, according to U.N. estimates, which are based on figures compiled by Hamas-run Health Ministry.

 

The paper was cleared by 10 USAID officials, underscoring its widespread backing of the findings. But Sonali Korde, the agency’s deputy assistant administrator and head of the Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs, signed off on the document with the phrase INFO, bureaucratic shorthand for passing it up the chain of command without committing to its conclusions. Blinken is required to formally certify to Congress in the coming weeks whether Israel complies with the White House determination.

 

A U.S. official said that the marking of INFO on U.S. government memos and documents “is common and can mean different things.” For instance, the official said, it could indicate the official is traveling, unable to complete a review of the document in time, or referring to other members of their team. But the official did not say whether Korde backed the conclusion of USAID’s memo. A USAID spokesperson declined to “comment on alleged leaked documents.”

 

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Oren Marmorstein, told Devex by text that “Israel operates and continues to operate according to international law.”

 

“Israel is fighting Hamas, a terrorist organization that perpetrates crimes of sexual violence, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, using its population as a human shield,” he added. “Israel will continue to fight Hamas until the destruction of its military and governmental infrastructure and until the release of the 133 hostages still held by Hamas.”  

 

The White House’s move to condition humanitarian assistance came after Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen mounted a campaign to secure wider support for an amendment to a pair of foreign policy supplementals that require Israel to comply with humanitarian law gained momentum. The supplementals, which authorized billions of dollars in military funding for Israel, Ukraine, and other foreign policy priorities, did not include Van Hollen’s amendment. 

 

“American taxpayer dollars should be used in line with our values and interests,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “This amendment makes clear that support we provide our allies to defend themselves be used in accordance with U.S. and international law. This includes taking measures to protect innocent civilians caught in conflict zones.”

 

The initiative coincides with a serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The Biden administration anticipates international experts will declare “ongoing famine” in Gaza by early next month, according to a separate internal memo to Blinken from U.S. experts on food security in the Department of State and USAID. The memo subject line, which was seen by Devex, reads: “Famine Inevitable, Changes Could Reduce but Not Stop Widespread Civilian Deaths.”

 

“Israel-imposed administrative challenges are preventing the delivery” of lifesaving humanitarian assistance, it adds.

 

The bleak assessment, prepared earlier this month for Blinken, claimed the severity of the food crisis in Gaza — which has left a population of more than 2 million in need of food — is unparalleled in recent times and that even the arrival of food to hungry Palestinians would be insufficient to stave off deaths from starvation.

 

“Adequate health, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene … interventions, an immediate cessation of hostilities, and sustained humanitarian access will be required,” the memo states. “Absent these conditions, all available evidence indicates rising acute food insecurity, malnutrition, and disease will lead to a rapid increase in non-trauma deaths, particularly among women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.”

 

The “deterioration of food security and nutrition in Gaza is unprecedented in modern history, exponentially outpacing in six months the long-term declines that led to the only other two famine declarations in the 21st century: Somalia (2011) and South Sudan (2017),” the memo states. The memo echoed many of the concerns of outside experts outlined in a U.S. government cable published in early April by Huffington Post.

 

The concerns over mass starvation come soon after an Israeli official said that the government is “moving ahead” with a long-feared ground offensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where about half of the enclave’s population are huddled in cramped encampments. Israel has already launched air strikes in Rafah.

 

“The last thing people want to see is a military operation or ground operation in Rafah, given the more than 1.5 million people that are displaced there and have no place to go,” Stéphane Dujarric, United Nations chief spokesperson, told reporters on Thursday.

 

The U.S. concerns mirror increasingly urgent warnings from U.N. agencies, including the World Food Programme. “We’re still heading towards a famine,” WFP’s Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told reporters on Thursday. “We haven’t seen that paradigm shift that is needed to avert a famine.”

 

Marmorstein countered that “hundreds of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid have been delivered to the Gaza Strip so far, with hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks entering the strip on a daily basis, and additional humanitarian aid entering the strip from both sea and air.”

 

The latest phase of conflict in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ grisly October 7 attack on southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and seizing more than 240 hostages. More than 130 either remain in captivity or have been killed during the conflict. The raid – which shattered Israel’s sense of security – set off a withering military response from Israel, killing more than 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, leveling most of the entity’s infrastructure, and driving it into famine.

 

The looming famine is posing a moral and political dilemma for the U.S., which just approved $14 billion in military aid for Israel, even as it presses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protect civilians and facilitate the delivery of massive amounts of humanitarian assistance. During a reportedly tense telephone conversation earlier this month, Netanyahu promised Biden he would take steps to accelerate the delivery of humanitarian assistance, opening up additional crossing points and repairing a critical water pipe from Israel.

 

“The independent analysis by food insecurity and famine experts released in March determined that people in northern Gaza would face famine between mid-March and May,” a State Department spokesperson told Devex by email. “We are now in mid-April, and while there has not been a new assessment, conditions remain dire and there has not been meaningful change in conditions on the ground.”

 

“We welcome the recent announcements by the Israelis following President Biden’s call with Prime Minister Netanyahu that would increase the flow of assistance,” the spokesperson added. “We’ve seen some progress, which is a good step but they need to be sustained and increased if we are to address the alarming rates of malnutrition.”

 

“There has been an uptick in terms of assistance we are able to bring into the Strip,”

 

Skau added. “There has also been some progress in terms of our access into the north. I would say that in the past three weeks, we have had a convoy of 7 to 12 trucks every other day or every third day. But this is far from enough. This is really a drop in the ocean. We need to get at least 30 and we need to do it every day.” 

 

The U.S. paper on famine notes that nearly 20% of planned missions in March requiring coordination with Israel in southern Gaza “were denied or otherwise unsuccessful.” During the same period, Israel denied access to 30% of aid missions in the north. The killing of more than 240 aid workers, including the strike that killed seven members of the World Central Kitchen aid group, “have deepened aid agencies’ belief that the Israeli government’s security assurances and efforts to deconflict are meaningless.”

 

“The world’s foremost food and insecurity and famine experts … assessed famine was already imminent if not already ongoing in northern Gaza, and warned southern Gaza was at a credible risk of famine without immediate action,” the U.S. famine paper noted. “Even immediate changes would not be enough to prevent many more non-trauma deaths and a famine declaration, particularly among vulnerable populations in northern Gaza — but could still save lives.”   - (ANA) -

 

 

AB/ANA/29 April 2024 - - -