Over a year has passed, and the Israel-Hamas war is still raging on. While the U.S. has been on Israel’s side during the duration of this violence, they’re giving them an ultimatum in order to boost Gaza humanitarian aid.
On October 13th, a letter by the Defense Secretary and the Secretary of State was signed and sent to senior Israeli officials, blaming them for their role in drastic humanitarian aid drops and widespread suffering in Palestinian territory. In the last month, Israel has denied nearly 90% of humanitarian aid between the north and south, with the U.S. having many concerns on Gaza civilians. There have been missile attacks on these civilians, with videos surfacing of them being burned alive in medical tents. While war is extremely terrible no matter who’s fighting for what, I feel that we can all agree that civilians shouldn’t be harmed in the process; that goes for both Gaza and Israel, however in this moment it appears that Palestinians have had no access to essential resources, including shelter as the Israeli army has surrounded the area.
Since the start of this war on October 7th, 2023, America has continually pressed for better humanitarian conditions, in particular in Gaza, however for the most part the Biden administration hasn’t posed much restrictions on the billions of military aid since Hamas attacked Israel. The exception to putting restrictions was the Rafah Offensive where Israel put an onslaught on the city of Rafah, using airstrikes and seizing the crossing. This wasn’t as violent as it would’ve been due to the Biden Administration declaring the attack crossing a red line, and suspending 500 and 2000 lb. bombs to dissuade this assault.
One has to ask if this ultimatum has anything to do with the political agenda of the democrats; While Biden stated that this didn’t have anything to do with the upcoming presidential election on November 5th, I feel that there are some underlying truths here. Trump promised to get the war to end quickly, while Harris stated that she supports Israel but also proposes that Palestinians would get sovereignty and security. By U.S. threatening to cut down on military assistance, this creates a win-win for the Biden Administration and the democrats; either Palestinian civilians have better quality of life or America cuts down on the amount of military aid, saving a pretty penny in expenses.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafah_offensive
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wk0e8zey2o
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/11/world/middleeast/trump-harris-israel-gaza.html
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