US senator demands Biden give Congress evidence that Israel is hindering Gaza aid

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Senator Tom Cotton on Wednesday demanded President Joe Biden produce "evidence" that Israel is impeding the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

Cotton’s demand comes a day after the Biden administration confirmed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told their Israeli counterparts that Israel must improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days, particularly by facilitating the delivery of international aid, or risk an American arms embargo.

"I write to strongly condemn the Biden-Harris administration's threat to impose an arms embargo on Israel if they do not meet your unreasonable demands to deliver humanitarian assistance to Gaza," Cotton wrote in a letter, a copy of which was obtained by Anadolu.

"I demand that you provide any 'evidence' of such violations to the relevant Congressional committees within the next three days. As I assume you cannot do so, I demand that you immediately rescind your threats to our ally," he added.

Austin and Blinken's message on aid to Gaza – sent in a letter to two Israeli Cabinet ministers – was unusually terse, and detailed multiple issues that could imperil the further provision of American military assistance.

"We are now writing 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," Austin and Blinken wrote, according to a purported copy of their letter posted on social media by an Axios reporter.

"We are particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government – including halting commercial imports, denying or impeding nearly 90 percent of humanitarian movements between northern and southern Gaza in September, continuing burdensome and excessive dual use restrictions, and instituting new vetting and onerous liability and customs requirements for humanitarian staff and shipments – together with increased lawlessness and looting – are contributing to an accelerated deterioration in the conditions in Gaza," they added.

The amount of international assistance that has entered Gaza since Israel promised to increase deliveries in March and April has dropped by over 50%, and in September deliveries fell to their lowest point in a year, Austin and Blinken wrote – a situation also confirmed by the UN and humanitarian groups.

The officials said their departments "must" under US law "continually assess your government's adherence to" Israel's promises not to obstruct US and US-supported international aid.

They called on Israel to surge all international assistance throughout Gaza ahead of winter, including by allowing a minimum of 350 trucks to enter the coastal territory per day, and ensuring that commercial corridors and those run by Jordan operate at "full and continuous capacity."

The letter further called on Israel to "end the isolation of northern Gaza" by reaffirming that Israel will not force Palestinian civilians to evacuate to the south, and ensuring that humanitarian groups "have continuous access" to the north.

Israel has dramatically increased its attacks on northern Gaza in recent days, killing scores of Palestinian civilians and ordering them to flee. Many who have attempted to do so have reported coming under Israeli attack.

Austin and Blinken said it is "vitally important" that the US and Israel establish a "new channel" to discuss what they called "civilian harm incidents," saying their "engagements to date have not produced the necessary outcomes." They asked that the first meeting of that mechanism take place by the end of this month.

Cotton said he believes the letter is a "politically driven excuse to pressure" Israel "to ratchet down its campaign against the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies."