Washington, DC – The first American diplomat Marco Rubio suggested that his country’s “commitment” led Israel to authorize a help limited to Gaza after a blockade of several months on food, medicine and other basic supplies.
During an audience of the senatorial committee on Tuesday, the Democrat Jeff Merkley pressed Rubio, a republican, on his position on the blockade of Israel, which aroused fears of an imminent famine in the Palestinian territory.
The Secretary of State replied that the United States is happy to see humanitarian aid starting to enter the territory.
“In the end, I don’t think you would have seen the events of the last two days without our commitment and the commitment of others,” said Rubio.
Israel authorized several rescue trucks to enter Gaza on Monday, and United Nations officials said that around 100 others had been allowed to reach the territory on Tuesday.
But this quantity still represents a fraction of the daily needs of the Gaza population, which has more than 2.1 million people.
“Israel remains a strong ally. We are favorable, ”continued Rubio. “We understand why, for their safety, Hamas cannot exist. We are also very happy to see that they allowed to start to flow, and we hope it will continue. ”
Several western countries, including partners close to Israel, have recently decried the Israeli headquarters in Gaza. On Monday, the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada declared in a joint statement that they were “horrified” by the Israeli military climbing in Gaza and its blockade on humanitarian aid.
They threatened to continue “concrete actions” as sanctions if Israel continued to expand its military assault.
The administration of American president Donald Trump, on the other hand, remained firmly pro-Israeli, but the experts say that recent white house movements signal an increasing gap between the United States and Israel.
For example, Trump did not include Israel as a stop during his recent trip to the Middle East. He also launched diplomatic talks with Iran and declared a cease-fire with the Yemen Houthi group-who are both opponents of Israel in the region.
The Houthis, for example, continue to launch missiles and drones in Israel in a demonstration of support for the Palestinians in Gaza.
However, in the past three months, the United States has refused to directly criticize Israel’s decision to prevent food and medicine from reaching Gaza.
But last week, a stop at the United Arab Emirates, Trump said he wanted to get the situation in Gaza “taken care of”.
“Many people are hungry. A lot of bad things are going,” he said.
Last week, in an interview with the BBC, Rubio said that he was “disturbed” by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
UN humanitarian leader Tom Fletcher also told the BBC on Tuesday that up to 14,000 children in Gaza were likely to die in the next 48 hours if the food does not reach them.
Last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) published arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for possible war crimes in Gaza, including the use of famine as a method of war.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would only allow a “basis of food” in Palestinian territory to suspend international pressure.
“Our best friends in the world – the senators I know as supporters of partial solids from Israel – have warned that they cannot support us if images of emerging mass famine,” he said, according to Haaretz.
The Gaza government media office said on Tuesday that at least 58 Palestinians died in malnutrition in the last 80 days.
During the hearing of the Senate on Tuesday, Rubio seemed to recognize that more aid must reach the Palestinians in Gaza.
“I understand your point of view that it is not in sufficient quantity,” Rubio told Merkley. “But we were delighted to see that the decision was made.”
