US Pressures Israel on Gaza: Aid or Arms?

The Biden administration warns Israel to boost humanitarian aid to Gaza within 30 days or risk losing US weapons funding. US officials Blinken and Austin stressed increased aid, humanitarian pauses, and security for sites. Israel faces deadlines amid deteriorating conditions in Gaza.

The Biden administration has issued a stark warning to Israel: either increase humanitarian aid access to Gaza or risk a cut-off from US weapons funding. Israel has 30 days to show significant progress.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin communicated this ultimatum in a letter, emphasizing the significance of US policy on humanitarian aid and arms transfers. This move comes as conditions worsen in northern Gaza, especially following an Israeli strike on a central Gaza hospital tent site that resulted in fatalities.

For continued foreign military financing, Israel must allow at least 350 aid trucks into Gaza daily and ensure security at humanitarian sites, while instituting humanitarian pauses. According to a senior U.S. official, this letter intends to emulate the positive outcome from a similar correspondence earlier in the year.

(With inputs from agencies.)