“We have not assessed that they are violating American law,” Vedant Patel, spokesperson for the State Department, said on Tuesday, November 12, about Israel. The official believes, however, that the humanitarian situation “continues to be unsatisfactory” in the Palestinian enclave.
Washington affirmed on Tuesday, November 12 that Israel was not violating American law regarding humanitarian aid to Gaza but called for additional progress, a month after threatening to suspend its military aid to this ally.
In a letter dated October 13, US Foreign and Defense Ministers Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin made a series of demands on Israel for humanitarian aid to Gaza, giving it 30 days to do so. answer.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said of Israel: “We have not assessed that they are violating American law.”
“Some progress”
“The general humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be unsatisfactory. But in the context of the letter, it is not a question of whether we find something satisfactory or not but of considering the actions that we see.”
“The actions we’ve seen, we think they’re going in the right direction,” he added.
“We want to see more. We want to see these measures hold up over a period of time and ultimately we want these measures to produce results.” Israel, however, has not respected a series of demands mentioned in the letter, notably the need to allow 350 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza per day.
Vedant Patel said the United States had seen “some progress” on aid, including the opening of new crossing points into the Gaza Strip.
“At the end of the 30 days, we are constantly evaluating (the situation) and if we do not see results on the ground, then we will, of course, make the necessary assessments regarding compliance with international law” , he clarified.
The current American government will only stay in place for a few weeks, however, before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who promised more freedom to his Israeli ally.
