Sawt Falasteen - Israel gets US pass on Gaza aid but agencies say it's not enough

Israel had announced the opening of an additional aid crossing into Gaza, just hours before the deadline set by outgoing President Joe Biden's administration to improve the humanitarian conditions in Gaza or risk a cut to military assistance.

Gaza has been in the grips of a dire humanitarian crisis since the outbreak of war following Hamas's unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Israel setting a deadline of November 13 to comply with US law on permitting humanitarian assistance.

Asked if Israel had met the demands, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said: "We have not made an assessment that they are in violation of US law.

"The overall humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be unsatisfactory. But in the context of the letter, it's not about whether we find something satisfactory or not; it's what are the actions that we're seeing.

"These actions that we have seen, we think that these are steps in the right direction," he said.

The US finding comes despite Israel not meeting a series of metrics set explicitly in the letter, including allowing a minimum of 350 trucks per day into Gaza.

Patel said the administration was "constantly assessing and evaluating" even after the deadline.

But it has only about nine weeks left in office before president-elect Donald Trump moves into the Oval Office.

Hamas on Tuesday accused the United States of complicity in the "war of genocide" in Gaza.

- Aid at 'lowest level' -

On the eve of the deadline, Israel's military said it opened the Kissufim crossing "as part of the effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid".

But the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and eight humanitarian groups said Israel was still not doing enough.

The eight organisations including Oxfam and Save The Children said: "The humanitarian situation in Gaza is now at its worst point since the war began in October 2023."

A top UN official on Tuesday condemned the "daily cruelty" in Gaza, describing "acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes."

"What distinction was made, and what precautions were taken, if more than 70 percent of civilian housing is either damaged or destroyed?" Joyce Msuya, interim chief of the OCHA humanitarian agency, told the UN Security Council.

"We are witnessing acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes."

Asked about whether there were signs the situation had improved ahead of the US deadline, Louise Wateridge, an UNRWA emergencies officer, said "aid entering the Gaza Strip is at its lowest level in months".

- Deadly strikes -

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 43,665 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

"My uncle's family, they were all killed, there was no one left," a visibly exhausted Umm Muhammad Awda told AFP in Gaza City.

"Since the dawn prayer they were shelling us," she added.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Tuesday that at least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes.

The Israeli army announced the deaths of four soldiers in northern Gaza, bringing its losses in the territory to 376 since ground operations began on October 27, 2023.

- 33 dead in Lebanon -

Deadly Israeli strikes also pounded Lebanon where Israel has stepped up its bombing campaign since September 23, mainly targeting Hezbollah strongholds in south Beirut and in the east and south.

Rocket fire from Lebanon killed two men in northern Israel, first responders said.

Lebanon's health ministry said at least 33 people were killed in Israeli strikes.

The attacks targeted not only known Hezbollah strongholds such as the southern suburbs of Beirut, but also areas where the Iran-backed group has not traditionally had a presence.

The health ministry said a strike on a town in the Chouf region south of Beirut killed at least 15 people, including four children, while another a few kilometres north in the Aley region killed eight.

More than 3,280 people have been killed in Lebanon since the clashes began last year, the majority of them since late September, according to the ministry's figures.

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F.Qawasmeh--SF-PST