A group of Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding the administration follow through with threats to cut weapons transfers to Israel if Tel Aviv did not allow more aid into the Gaza Strip. Since early October, Northern Gaza has been under a total siege and deprived of nearly all aid deliveries. 

The letter, led by Reps Greg Casar (D-TX) and Summer Lee (D-PA), said that the White House must cut offensive weapon sales to Israel. “Simply put, the Netanyahu government has not complied with the United States’ repeated requests to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered safely to innocent people,” they wrote. “Under US law, the United States government must suspend offensive weapons to any nation that fails to meet these basic standards.”

A total of 20 lawmakers signed on to the Casar-Lee letter. The letter is referring to a set of demands issued by Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Tel Aviv in October. That letter sent from the Secretaries to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave Tel Aviv 30 days to improve the flow of aid into Gaza. 

The deadline passed without Israel meeting the Secretaries’ demands. “For example, your Administration wrote that Israel must ‘enable a minimum of 350 [humanitarian aid] trucks per day to enter Gaza.’” It continues, “In the 30 days following the release of the Biden Administration’s letter, an average of only 42 aid trucks entered Gaza daily, with as few as six trucks entering on some days. This represents a massive failure that is costing people their lives.”

Israel is in the process of ethnically cleansing northern Gaza. “According to the United Nations, the Netanyahu government has denied 82 out of 91 attempts since Oct. 6, 2024, to deliver aid to cut-off areas in northern Gaza.” It adds, “During the 30-day time period provided to Israel, roughly 100,000 people were displaced from northern Gaza.”

Tel Aviv relies on Washington as the US is Israel’s leading supplier of weapons and could not continue to wage its multi-front war without American assistance.