Washington, DC – The United Nations warns that threats to aid deliveries to Gaza are reaching critical levels as Israel continues to wage war on the Palestinian enclave.
But advocates say the United States — a critical ally of Israel and the largest UN donor — has been conspicuously silent.
On Monday, a UN official said the organization was forced to pause almost all aid operations in Gaza after Israel issued another set of wide-ranging evacuation orders.
And on Wednesday, the UN World Food Programme announced it would temporarily suspend travel by its staff in Gaza after one of its vehicles was attacked as it approached an Israeli checkpoint.
Advocates say the United States has a duty to speak out, particularly as child malnutrition rises in Gaza and cases of polio, a preventable but highly contagious disease, spread.
“The US government has been at a loss for words and has not even issued its usual performative statements to comment on the UN’s suspension of its aid operations in Gaza,” said Raed Jarrar, human rights advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a human rights nonprofit based in Washington, DC.
Legal experts say blocking humanitarian aid to civilians and attacking aid workers could amount to war crimes under the Geneva Convention.
The UN also warns of a severe toll on Gaza’s civilians. Its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented a surge in acute malnutrition among Gaza’s children between May and July, including a 300 percent increase in the north of the enclave. In the south, the rate more than doubled.
As the UN prepares to launch a mass polio vaccination campaign, Hassan el-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a nonprofit organization, said failure to meet basic needs could exacerbate the health crisis.
“A 10-month-old baby in Gaza is paralysed in one leg – it is the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years. It is a huge threat,” el-Tayyab told Al Jazeera.
“At the same time, malnutrition is widespread. Patients who are malnourished have much lower efficacy when they receive this vaccine, so obviously we need the food to make sure that the vaccines actually work.”
'Use the bully pulpit'
On Wednesday, the World Food Programme revealed that one of its vehicles was hit 10 times by Israeli fire in Gaza, despite being clearly identifiable and being on a “fully coordinated” humanitarian mission.
The two employees inside the vehicle were unharmed thanks to the armored glass. However, the agency said it would suspend the movement of its employees until further notice.
Just a day earlier, Gilles Michaud, the UN under-secretary-general for security, warned that while humanitarian operations were able to resume in Gaza, aid workers were “operating at the highest peripheries of tolerable risk.”
Michaud also accused Israel of giving inadequate warnings to aid workers in the event of an attack.
He explained that over the weekend, the Israeli military “gave more than 200 UN staff just hours’ notice to leave their offices and residences in Deir Al Balah, a crucial humanitarian hub.”
“The mass evacuation orders are the latest in a long list of unbearable threats to humanitarian and UN personnel,” Michaud said.
In response to the recent resurgence of polio in Gaza, the UN last week called for a seven-day “humanitarian pause” in the war to allow aid workers and humanitarian workers to move safely within the enclave.
Advocates like el-Tayyab believe the administration of US President Joe Biden can be a crucial force in making such a pause a reality.
“The diplomatic pressure is absolutely enormous,” el-Tayyab said. “Biden should use his pulpit to call for a seven-day pause in the fight against polio right now.”
On Tuesday, US Senator Chris Van Hollen also joined the UN's call for a seven-day pause in fighting so that vaccines can be administered to the estimated 640,000 children in Gaza.
The UN has called for an “immediate pause,” says Van Hollen wrote on social media platform X. “[Biden] We should do the same as we work toward a permanent ceasefire. [and] “After the hostages have returned, we must stop the spread of polio now.”
Emphasis on ceasefire negotiations
The Biden administration has signaled its willingness to support efforts to combat polio in the enclave.
Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Israel that he was working with the Israeli government on the vaccine distribution effort.
On Wednesday, Israeli media reported that the government had approved temporary pauses in fighting to allow for the distribution of vaccines, although no formal plan has been announced.
The Gaza Health Ministry said it had not been notified of any such plans either.
Jarrar said there are reasons to be skeptical that such plans would meet the needs of the Palestinians. He also criticized the Biden administration for failing to hold Israel accountable for halting the flow of aid.
“The Biden administration is so wrapped up in aiding and abetting Israel’s crimes that it doesn’t even bother to maintain this charade,” he said. “Arming Israel while it continues to starve Palestinians and obstruct humanitarian aid is not only unethical, it’s a violation of U.S. law.”
Instead, the Biden administration has largely focused its diplomacy on reaching an elusive ceasefire agreement. U.S. officials have repeatedly said a ceasefire would allow for increased aid to Gaza.
Speaking at the Democratic National Convention on August 19, Biden said the administration was working “around the clock” to “prevent a broader war” in the region.
Part of the goal, he explained, was to “increase humanitarian, health and food assistance to Gaza now” and “end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people.”
Two days later, Biden had a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A White House statement said the United States was “supporting the defense of Israel” and that “there is an urgent need for a ceasefire.”
The summary did not mention the immediate need for humanitarian access to Gaza.
“It's worse not to say anything”
Advocates have expressed little hope that the Biden administration will leverage the billions of dollars in military aid it provides Israel annually to ensure the free flow of aid to Gaza.
But Annelle Sheline, an analyst at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said it was particularly troubling that the Biden administration has avoided publicly examining how Israel restricts aid distribution.
Sheline recently resigned from the US State Department in protest of the administration's policies towards the Gaza war.
“Obviously, the Biden administration has made statements in the past that it refuses to back up with actions,” he said. “That’s clearly problematic, but arguably even worse is not saying anything or not acknowledging or at least denouncing the ways in which Israel is blocking aid.”
She posited that the silence could be a reflection of the United States “not wanting to show any light” with Israel, a phrase used to symbolize the two countries’ historically close relationship.
In the silence, Sheline saw evidence of a “redoubled commitment” to U.S. support for Israel, regardless of violations committed against humanitarian workers.
The United States has continued to supply arms to Israel, including approving a $20 billion arms package earlier this month, as it anticipates a retaliatory attack by Iran.
Sheline also highlighted the recent appointment of Mira Resnick — reportedly a staunch advocate of continued arms transfers to Israel — as the new deputy assistant secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs in the State Department’s Middle East office. The appointment was first reported by the Huffington Post.
“I think that clearly indicates the extent to which the administration is comfortable with Israeli genocide,” Sheline said.
“On the one hand, I interpret this as further proof that the administration does not care what happens to civilians like those in Gaza.”
