U.S. to still send weapons to Israel after Gaza aid deadline

The United States does not plan to revoke its military aid to Israel over a deadline for improving humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on Tuesday.

Thirty days ago, U.S. officials told Israel it had that same amount of time to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or else face consequences. Secretary Blinken met with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer on Monday to discuss steps Tel Aviv had taken to satisfy the demands made in the Oct. 13 letter, according to the State Department. Blinken reportedly told Dermer that it was important that those steps result in real improvements for those in Gaza.

What’s the case against helping Israel? A joint statement by eight humanitarian organizations on Tuesday accused Israel of failing to meet humanitarian aid thresholds set by the United States. Roughly 800,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip were living on the brink of famine, the aid groups said. The aid organizations urged U.S. officials to hold Tel Aviv accountable for its failures to adequately improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza in the allotted time.

When did the United States set this 30-day deadline? In an Oct. 13 letter, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin demanded Israel increase the amount of aid flowing into Gaza and loosen restrictions around the routes for aid to enter Gaza. Austin and Blinken told Israel in the letter that Israeli officials had just one month to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or else face the loss of further American military aid.

Dig deeper: Read Joyce Wu’s report in World Tour about how Lebanese Christians on suffering and hoping amid Israel’s war with Hezbollah.