US demands Israel declare it is not deliberately starving Palestinians: Report
Lisa Grande, the Biden administration’s Middle East aid envoy, is said to have made demands around Israel’s humanitarian approach in Gaza in a heated phone call with Ghassan Alian, the chief of the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs (COGAT), according to Israel’s Channel 12.
Grande reportedly demanded during the call that Israel publicly declare it is not following a policy of deliberately starving Palestinians in Gaza. She also demanded Israel cancel all evacuation orders issued for civilians and allow evacuated Palestinians to return home, as well as present a comprehensive plan for reducing harm to civilian infrastructure.
Channel 12, citing unnamed US officials, reports the call was heated but remained constructive, despite Alian reportedly being “stunned” by the demands.
“What kind of proportionality is expected from the [Israeli military] when it is acting against a terrorist organisation whose deliberate modus operandi is to fight from inside civilian areas and civilian and humanitarian facilities,” he is said to have told Grande, according to the officials.
Hungry Palestinian children are crushed waiting on the distribution of bread from a charitable organisation in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on December 19
Demands mean nothing without consequences, and why only 'demand' a declaration. Demand to stop deliberately starving people. Demand to let more aid in and demand to stop disrupting aid distribution. Don't just ask for more lies...
Palestinian Americans sue US government over failure to evacuate citizens trapped in Gaza
The Reuters news agency reports that the lawsuit accuses the US State Department of discrimination for abandoning Palestinian Americans in a war zone, and not making the same effort that would normally be taken to evacuate and protect Americans of different origins in similar situations.
The suit was filed on Thursday by nine Palestinian Americans who allege the US government had failed to rescue them or members of their families who were trapped in Gaza where Israel’s war has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
The lawsuit asserts that the plaintiffs’ right to equal protection under the US Constitution has been violated by depriving them “of the normal and typical evacuation efforts the federal government extends to Americans who are not Palestinians”.
It mentions comparable instances of the US government evacuating its citizens from conflict zones such as in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sudan and names President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as defendants.
A US State Department spokesperson said the department does not comment on pending litigation.
Lieberman says Israeli army must retain operational freedom in Gaza
Former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has told the Israel Hayom newspaper that the government should also “close the crossings” from Israel to Gaza.
“Let them suffocate with Philadelphi,” he said, referring to the narrow territory located along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
“[The army] must remain with complete operational freedom [in Gaza],” the former minister said. “As soon as there is one rocket – we go in. As soon as we detect an escalation – we go in,” he stressed.
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