The State Department is giving Israel a “fail” grade for progress in letting humanitarian relief supplies into Gaza, but, as Department spokesman Matthew Miller observed yesterday, there were still 9 days to go before the 30-day deadline that Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Defense Austin had given for some improvement. “As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around,” Miller told reporters during a press briefing yesterday.
AP reports that, by the end of October, an average of just 71 trucks a day were entering Gaza, according to the latest UN figures. “The results are not good enough today,” Miller said. “They certainly do not have a pass.… They have failed to implement all the things that we recommended. Now, that said, we are not at the end of the 30-day period.” He would not say, when asked, what the U.S. would do when the deadline comes up next week, just that “we will follow the law.”
Blinken spoke Nov. 4 with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, urging additional steps to “substantially increase and sustain humanitarian aid” to civilians in Gaza, according to a State Department readout of their call. Similarly, Defense Secretary Austin has been reinforcing “how important it is to ensure that humanitarian assistance can flow and flow faster into Gaza” in calls with Gallant, said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary.
However, on Nov. 5 Gallant was just fired by Prime Minister Netanyahu.
