LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A Biden administration ultimatum to Israel to dramatically increase humanitarian aid to Gaza has come and gone with no changes in U.S. policy. That's despite humanitarian organizations reporting that the situation in Gaza has actually deteriorated over the last month. When questioned by reporters, a State Department spokesman insisted the Biden administration is, quote, "not giving Israel a pass." We're joined now by Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International. That's one of the groups that issued the report. Good morning, Jeremy. Thanks for being on the program.
JEREMY KONYNDYK: My pleasure. Thank you.
FADEL: So the State Department says Israel has completed, quote, "a number of steps," unquote, to address what the U.S. asked for in the ultimatum. For example, it points to a new border crossing opening, another crossing reopening. Now, you and other humanitarian organizations put out a scorecard on progress. Did you find the same thing that the State Department did?
KONYNDYK: No. And, frankly, it's hard to see what reality the State Department and Secretary of State are referencing with their comments over the last few days. We looked at 19 discrete steps that were referenced in the letter from Secretary Blinken to the Israeli government last month. We were able to identify even kernels of progress on only four of those 19. And on 15 of the 19 - including the most important ones - we found little indication that the Israeli government had even begun taking serious measures. It's hard to understand what the State Department is referencing when they say that Israel has completed most of the steps referenced in the document.
FADEL: So based on your findings, is Israel getting a pass from the U.S. after it was given this ultimatum?
KONYNDYK: Israel is absolutely getting a pass from the Biden administration. And I think it's the same pass they've been getting from the Biden administration on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza over the entirety of the past year.
FADEL: Now, an independent famine review committee that's affiliated with the U.N. says starvation, malnutrition and death are rapidly increasing across northern Gaza, where Israel says it's fighting regrouped Hamas fighters. Based on your organization's work, could you paint an overall picture of Gaza, especially in north Gaza, where there's real concern?
KONYNDYK: So after now a year of this war, a year of deprivation and obstruction of aid by the Israeli government, the population is exceptionally vulnerable as it's heading now into the second winter of this war. And while it's the Middle East, winters in Gaza are quite cold, they're wet. It's a dangerous period for people to be without shelter. One of the demands in the letter was to fully support and facilitate a winterization program proposed by the World Food Programme that would have sought to provide warm emergency shelter for people who are displaced, which is now almost the entirety of the population.
We saw no real indication of the Israeli government doing that. That's going to leave people exposed to a lot more harm than they were last winter. There are a lot more people living in much worse, much more rudimentary shelters now. They don't have adequate food. In northern Gaza, in particular, the Israeli government continues to pursue a policy of trying to expel people from the north using deprivation of aid and military tactics. And most of the population now is clustered into this very small area around Mawasi on the coast, which the letter demanded the Israeli government allow people out of, and they really have not seriously begun to do so.
FADEL: In the little time that we have left, what does happen if Israel continues to fall short of what is needed?
KONYNDYK: Well, what happens is people will begin to die in larger and larger numbers, not just of trauma wounds from the war, but of starvation and complications of starvation.
FADEL: Jeremy Konyndyk is the president of Refugees International. Thank you for joining us and sharing your insights.
KONYNDYK: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOGWAI'S "GOLDEN PORSCHE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
