US gives Israel 30-day deadline to allow Gaza aid or risk losing arms shipments
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Palestinians carry their belongings as they flee areas north of Gaza City on 12 October 2024 The letter cited Israel’s denial of most humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza and its "burdensome and excessive" restrictions on what goods could enter Gaza. Groups Gisha, B’Tselem, PHR-I, and Yesh Din said over the weekend there were "alarming signs" that Israel was “quietly” starting to implement the “Generals’ Plan” to declare northern Gaza a closed military zone, the Financial Times reported. “However long overdue, this official warning that Israel must stop blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza or face a suspension of US military aid is an important and unprecedented signal that Israel has crossed even the Biden administration’s permissive red lines,” Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of nonprofit DAWN, told The Independent. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller claimed Israel made changes at the time that led to 300-400 aid trucks entering Gaza per day but that number had since fallen by over 50 per cent.