US writes to Israel again to ease humanitarian crisis in Gaza

The Joe Biden administration has confirmed that US secretaries of state and defence co-signed a letter last week that was sent to their Israeli counterparts, urging Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within the next 30 days.

During a press briefing on Tuesday, state department spokesperson Matthew Miller confirmed to reporters that the letter, co-signed by secretary of state Antony Blinken and secretary of defence Lloyd Austin, was addressed to Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and minister of strategic affairs Ron Dermer.

The letter was intended "to make clear our concerns the levels of humanitarian assistance that have been making it into Gaza," Miller said, adding that the US considers the letter "to be a private diplomatic communication that we did not intend to make public from our side".

According to a report by CNN, the letter warned that should Israel fail to make more humanitarian aid accessible to Gazans, the country would risk violating US laws governing foreign military assistance. As a result, US military aid to Israel could be in jeopardy. The letter noted that under US laws, the state and defence departments must continually assess Israel's adherence to its assurances that it would not restrict aid flows into Gaza, Xinhua news agency reported.

The 30-day window offered by the US means that potential consequences if Israel does not heed US warnings will occur after the US presidential election on 5 November. Asked to explain the deadline, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby referred reporters to the state department for an explanation, saying the Biden administration also sent a letter to Israel in April in which it "made a similar request for concrete measures with respect to humanitarian assistance".

Kirby said the latest letter was "tied to a recent decrease" in the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza. "But it's not like we haven't communicated these concerns in writing before to the Israelis," he added.

On the other hand, a Syrian official has expressed concern over the prolonged impact of the ongoing Israeli military operation in Lebanon, warning that international sanctions on Syria, coupled with the flow of refugees from Lebanon, would deplete Syria's already strained resources.

"We do not know how long this situation could continue. Therefore, we ask the international community to act immediately to lift the sanctions on Syria and to lift the Caesar Act so that we can receive humanitarian aid, food supplies, and medical supplies," Alaa al-Sheikh, a member of the executive office in rural Damascus province, said on Tuesday.

The Caesar Act, a US legislation that sanctions the Syrian government for alleged war crimes against the Syrian population that came into force in 2020, has crippled the country's economy and hindered its ability to address humanitarian needs, Xinhua news agency reported. Escalating tensions in the region are straining Syria's capacity to respond to its own needs, which has been compounded by the continued inflow of refugees from Lebanon, the official said. "We cannot deny that Syria, after years of war, has been exhausted."

Meanwhile, minister of local administration and environment Louay Khareta announced on Tuesday that 20 new shelters have been prepared to receive refugees.

A total of 42,671 free medical services have been provided to individuals arriving from Lebanon as a result of the ongoing Israeli assault, the Syrian health ministry said, adding that the services include general medical care, surgeries, emergency procedures, mental health support, reproductive health services, care for individuals with chronic conditions, as well as necessary vaccinations for children and tetanus shots for women of reproductive age.

According to recent statistics, 386,000 people, including 125,000 Lebanese and 261,000 Syrians, have arrived in Syria from Lebanon since 24 September through border crossings, most of whom gathered in the countryside of Damascus, Homs, and Tartus, with support and aid being provided by the Syrian Red Crescent.

On Tuesday itself, at least 10 people were killed and 15 others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry reported. TV footage showed that the airstrike, targeting residential buildings in the town of Qana, 10 km southeast of the city of Tyre, caused a massive fire and destroyed the buildings and nearby vehicles, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

According to the National News Agency, civil defence teams and firefighters rushed to the scene to extinguish the fire and transport the casualties to hospitals in Tyre.

Since 23 September, the Israeli army has been conducting unprecedented, intensive airstrikes on Lebanon in a sharp escalation with the militant outfit Hezbollah, which operates primarily out of Lebanon. The death toll from Israeli airstrikes since the beginning of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict on 8 October 2023 has crossed 2,350, while injuries are up to 10,906, health ministry figures showed on Tuesday.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of the former's offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 42,400 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year. Israel expanded the conflict on October 1 by launching an incursion into southern Lebanon.