Blinken 'green-lighted' Israeli policy allowing bombing of aid trucks entering Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken allegedly green-lighted an Israeli policy to bomb some aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip, shortly after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel and the beginning of the Gaza War, Israeli media reported.

Blinken visited Israel in October 2023 twice. On the second occasion, he was there to ask Israeli leaders to go back on their decision to impose a total siege on Gaza and bomb humanitarian aid entering the Palestinian territory.

He took part in discussions of the Israeli war cabinet in Tel Aviv and ended these with a public speech saying that the US and Israel had agreed on a plan to restart humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.

"It is critical that aid begin flowing into Gaza as soon as possible," Blinken said at the time.

Israeli media reported however that the precise wording of the policy was debated for hours between Blinken and Israeli leaders, and included an interpretation that would allow attacks on aid suspected of being “secured” by Hamas and other militants.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that while no humanitarian aid from Israel to Gaza would be allowed, Israel would allow supplies from Egypt to enter Gaza.

However, Netanyahu added that "any supplies that reach Hamas will be thwarted", meaning that Israel would bomb trucks it suspected of reaching Hamas and its affiliated organisations.

This was clarified by a statement from extremist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said, “We in the cabinet were promised at the outset that there would be monitoring, and that aid trucks hijacked by Hamas and its organizations [sic] would be bombed from the air, and the aid would be halted.”

A US State Department spokesperson denied that Blinken had signed off on the Israeli policy, but told Drop Site News that “Israel has the right to strike Hamas militants” while ensuring that “humanitarian aid is delivered to Gaza and that humanitarian workers inside Gaza are protected”.

However, the statement did not clarify if Hamas militants or those identified as militants could be targeted upon securing aid convoys in Gaza.

After Blinken's trip to Israel, aid began entering the Gaza Strip but this was accompanied by an Israeli media campaign against UNRWA, which was responsible for coordinating most of the aid entering Gaza.

The UN agency was smeared by Israel as a front for Hamas, and the US cut funding to it, while Israel attacked UNRWA convoys, forcing it to suspend its activities.

Israel also attacked Gazans who had gathered to receive aid on several occasions, killing dozens, and also targeted and killed Gaza policemen who tried to secure aid deliveries.

Israel looked to other aid organisations such as World Central Kitchen (WCK) to coordinate aid but later killed seven WCK aid workers in strikes on Gaza.