The US State Department has confronted Netanyahu with Israeli “criminals” who attacked aid trucks

A US State Department spokesman said the US had raised concerns about attacks on trucks and aid drivers carrying urgently needed humanitarian supplies to war zones in the Gaza Strip.

Matthew Miller said at the agency’s daily press conference that the Biden administration has raised its concerns about these attacks with the Israeli government, but did not provide any specific measures the U.S. could or would take to ensure there is no violence from the Israeli side at these border crossings.

“Yes, we have raised it with the Israeli government. It was also a topic of discussion with our UN partners,” Miller said on Monday in response to a question from The Independent.

“This is nothing new. It’s an issue that has come and gone over time, but there have also been cases where trucks have been hijacked by criminals and the aid has been diverted and sold on the black market,” Miller continued. “Recently, this has become a problem again, limiting the distribution of some of the humanitarian aid within Gaza. So we’ve been working on this not only with Israel, but also with UN agencies.”

The State Department has claimed for months that U.S. officials have been constantly pressuring their Israeli counterparts to allow more aid into Gaza, but Monday’s remark may be the first time the U.S. has acknowledged that the issue has been explicitly raised with the Israeli government as a problem to be resolved.

Last week, the Biden administration took its own steps to address the problem, imposing sanctions on members of a group called Tsav 9, which allegedly has ties to Israel’s right-wing settler movement, in response to the group’s involvement in attacks on aid trucks.

The White House has also ordered the construction of a temporary pier in Gaza to allow the passage of some aid by sea. Last week, the Defense Department said more than 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid had been delivered to Gaza through the pier after it was temporarily closed for two days on June 9-10.

In May, the US State Department issued its first direct public statement calling on Israel to “do more” and “hold actors like these accountable” after videos emerged showing settlers destroying some humanitarian aid packages after looting a convoy at the Tarqumiya border crossing.

Spokesman Vedant Patel said at the time that Israeli authorities “must do more to hold actors like these accountable when they take actions that run counter to what we know is important, which is getting more humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

“Humanitarian aid must not and cannot be restricted, stopped or hindered,” Patel continued.

On the same day, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said that “the level of aid (to Gaza) remains inadequate.”