The Biden administration is increasing the pressure on the Netanyahu government to meet its demands over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
If Israel fails to meet the US’ demands by November 13th, Biden may suspend military assistance to Israel, reports Axios.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin presented their Israeli counterparts with an ultimatum in October, demanding Israel improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
According to Axios, Blinken again raised these demands during his latest trip to Israel last week.
"Our teams are tracking very carefully Israel's responsibilities to meet the letter of the law [...] with regard to the provision of humanitarian assistance," Blinken said at a press conference with Austin on Thursday.
Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, is reportedly drafting the official response to the letter from Blinken and Austin, which is expected to be delivered after the US presidential election — with its results likely to influence the contents of the response.
Pressure Regarding the West Bank
At the same time, Blinken and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on Israel to extend banking correspondence between Israeli and Palestinian banks in the West Bank for another year, in a joint statement issued on Thursday.
On the same day, Israel's Finance Minister, far-right figure Bezalel Smotrich, had signed a one-month extension to the agreement allowing this correspondence, just hours before the agreement was due to expire.
“The United States has been clear that economic stability in the West Bank is essential for Israeli and Palestinian security,” the statement announced. “Unfortunately, the very short-term duration of this extension creates another looming crisis by November 30,” it adds, pointing out that this exacerbates “uncertainty for international banks, Israeli companies operating in the West Bank, and most importantly for ordinary Palestinians who bear the greatest brunt of such uncertainty.”
The Palestinian economy relies heavily on banks' relations with their Israeli counterparts to process transactions in shekels, as the Palestinian Authority does not have its own currency.
The United States has considered sanctioning Smotrich in the past for his particularly drastic policies against the Palestinians, but has so far refrained from taking this radical step.
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