The top U.S. diplomat and defense chief called on Israel to take immediate steps to improve the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip or risk getting U.S. military aid, reports said Tuesday.
"We are writing now to underscore the U.S. government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to their Israeli counterparts, posted by an Axios reporter on X.
A reporter for Israeli News 12 first earlier the contents of the letter on X.
The State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Israel's government also could not be immediately reached for comment.
The reports come as Israeli forces expand attacks on northern Gaza amid ongoing concerns about access to humanitarian aid throughout the enclave and civilians' access to food, water and medicine.
The United States last week told the U.N. Security Council that Israel needs to address urgently "catastrophic conditions" among Palestinian civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip and stop "intensifying suffering" by limiting aid deliveries.
The secretaries' letter cited Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, which restricts (prohibits) military aid to countries that impede the delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.
This week, Israel attacked a refugee camp, killing tens of Palestinians.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 50 Palestinians in Gaza as forces intensified their assault on Jabalia in the north on Tuesday.
Jabalia has been the focus of an Israeli offensive for more than 10 days, with troops returning to areas of the north that came under heavy bombardment in the early months of the year-long war.
The operation has raised concerns among Palestinians and U.N. agencies that Israel wants to clear residents from the north of the crowded enclave, a charge it has denied. Residents said Israeli forces destroyed dozens of houses in the past 10 days.
The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday the Israeli military appeared to be "cutting off North Gaza completely from the rest of the Gaza Strip."
It also cited a National Security Memorandum that U.S. President Joe Biden issued in February that requires the State Department to report to Congress on whether it finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of U.S. weapons does not violate U.S. or international law.
U.S. officials earlier this year said Israel may have violated international humanitarian law using U.S.-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza.
The northern part of Gaza is home to well over half the territory's 2.3 million people and hundreds of thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes amid heavy bombing in the first phase of Israel's assault on the territory.
Around 400,000 people remained, according to United Nations estimates.
Israel launched the offensive against the Hamas incursion on Oct. 7, 2024, that caused 1,200 deaths and 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Tel Aviv's genocidal war has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health authorities.
