US tells top Israeli officials Gaza civilian toll ‘unacceptably high’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told two top Israeli officials of the “unacceptably high” civilian casualties in Israel’s bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, his spokesman said.
The Israeli military has intensified deadly attacks in recent days including on a refugee camp and multiple UN-run schools where civilians were sheltering.
Blinken received two influential Israeli officials – Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi – “to express our serious concern about the recent civilian casualties in Gaza”.
Casualties “still remain unacceptably high. We continue to see far too many civilians killed in this conflict,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
On Saturday, Israeli strikes killed more than 90 people in the al-Mawasi camp near Khan Younis, which has been designated as a safe zone.
Yet you continue to accept it by sending more bombs, more money, more pressure to stop the ICC arrest warrants.
Far-right groups that block aid to Gaza receive donations from US and Israel
Three far-right groups that have prevented humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza – including one accused of looting or destroying supplies – have raised more than $200,000 from donors in the US and Israel, The Associated Press and the Israeli investigative site Shomrim have found in an examination of crowdfunding websites and other public records.
Incentivising these donations by making them tax-deductible runs counter to America’s and Israel’s stated commitments to allow food, water and medicine into Gaza, say groups working to get more aid into the territory.
Donations have continued even after the US imposed sanctions against one of these groups.
By not cracking down on these groups, Israel is showing a “lack of coherence” in its Gaza aid policy, said Tania Hary, executive director of Gisha, an Israeli nonprofit that has long called on Israel to improve conditions in the territory.
“If you’re on the one hand saying you’re allowing aid in but then also facilitating the actions of groups that are blocking it, can you really say you’re facilitating aid?” she said.
