State Department: “We have not assessed that they are violating US law. The actions we have seen are going in the right direction.”
Washington said today that Israel is not breaking US law on humanitarian aid to Gaza, but called for more progress, a month after it warned it would suspend military aid to its close ally.
In a letter dated October 13, the US Secretaries of State and Defense, Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, had made a series of demands to Israel regarding humanitarian aid to Gaza, giving it 30 days to respond.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said today of Israel: “We have not assessed that they are violating American law.” “The overall humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be unsatisfactory. But in this letter, it is not a question of whether we find something satisfactory or not, but to look at the actions that we see,” he said.
“The actions we’ve seen, we think are going in the right direction,” he said. “We want to see more. We want to see these measures in place over a period of time and ultimately we want these measures to produce results,” said Vedant Patel.
Israel, however, has not met a number of demands listed in the letter, most notably the need to allow 350 trucks of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave every day.
Vedant Patel said the United States has seen “some progress” in aid, such as the opening of new crossings into the Gaza Strip. “At the end of the 30 days, we are constantly evaluating (the situation) and if we don’t see results on the ground, then of course we will make the necessary assessments regarding respect for international law,” he clarified.
The Biden administration will remain in office for only a few more weeks until the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised more freedom to his Israeli ally.
Meanwhile, the United States said it had not “lost hope” of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, despite Qatar suspending its mediation, accusing Israel and Hamas of not showing “will and seriousness”.
“We are continuing a number of initiatives to secure the release of the hostages. Those are ongoing. We have not given up hope,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.
Source :Skai
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