TEL AVIV, Israel — Despite a U.S. deadline to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip, Israel was still letting significantly less food and supplies into the territory than in the months before the warning, according to official Israeli figures.
In an Oct. 13 letter signed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Biden administration gave Israel 30 days to increase the flow of aid or face a possible cutoff in military assistance. It warned that aid shipments into Gaza in September had reached their lowest level at any time since the early months of the war.
More trucks began to enter Gaza in the past several weeks, and in the days before the U.S. deadline Israel announced a handful of policy changes. But the total amount of aid and commercial goods into Gaza since Oct. 13 has been substantially lower than what the Biden administration had demanded, and far lower than it was even in September.
Despite that, the Biden administration said Tuesday it did not plan to follow through on its threat to cut military assistance after the deadline expired.
Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesperson, said Tuesday that Israel had instituted important changes but that “there needs to be more progress.” He added that the administration had not assessed Israel to be in violation of U.S. law.
The sharp decline in the entry of food, medical supplies and other necessities coincided with an Israeli decision in early October to block commerce into the territory, arguing that Hamas was profiting off the trade. Israel recently launched a major offensive against Hamas in North Gaza that has driven tens on of thousands from their homes.
Israeli officials say they do not restrict the amount of humanitarian aid that can enter Gaza and argue that aid agencies should be doing more. But the Israeli decision to bar commercial goods was a blow.
According to data made publicly available by the Israeli military, the amount of what it calls “humanitarian goods” entering Gaza — including donated aid and commercial goods sold in markets — fell to 52,000 metric tons from Oct. 1 through Nov. 10 from about 87,000 metric tons in September.
“Things were looking much better,” said Muhannad Hadi, a top United Nations relief official in Jerusalem. “But now, suddenly, everything has collapsed.”
A U.N.-backed panel warned last week that famine was imminent in northern Gaza, saying that 13 months of war had created “an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine” because of the “rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.” Israel has criticized that report as based on “partial, biased data and superficial sources.”
Before Israel’s latest offensive in the north, Palestinians across Gaza had begun to see nearly forgotten luxuries like fresh fruit and frozen chicken appear in local markets, albeit at inflated prices, mostly imported by businesspeople in Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Ayed Abu Ramadan, who leads the Gaza Chamber of Commerce, recalled that a pound of apples could cost as little as $1.60 in late September. But when Israel halted the flow of commercial goods, the markets quickly emptied.
“Now, almost nothing is left,” he said. “And anything that remains is mind-bogglingly expensive.”
Israel has not offered a public explanation for the ban on commercial goods. But an Israeli official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity to comply with Israeli policy, said the authorities banned trade with Gaza because Hamas had been making money by extorting Palestinian importers. Hamas has denied those claims in the past.
Israel has decimated Hamas’ rule in Gaza, but Israel’s soldiers do not enforce law and order.