US EditionReport: Biden-Era Envoys Blocked USAID Gaza Cables
USAID cables from early 2024 detailing severe famine risks and catastrophic needs in Gaza were blocked by US envoys citing lack of balance, despite warnings from UN and humanitarian groups.
- In early 2024, U.S. envoys Jack Lew and Stephanie Hallett blocked wider distribution of USAID cables about Gaza, citing lack of balance, Reuters reports.
- Amid concerns about ongoing ceasefire and hostage talks, officials judged the cables lacked balance and senior officials questioned verification because USAID had no staff inside Gaza.
- The February 2024 cable examined famine risk in northern Gaza and severe food insecurity, drawing on UNRWA, UN Mine Action Service, and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports.
- In January 2024, the embassy approved a separate food-insecurity cable that reached the president's daily briefing, and the withheld cables attracted attention from deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, according to reports.
- Former USAID Middle East disaster response team members said humanitarian expertise was repeatedly sidelined, while the White House had National Security Council reports on Gaza's worsening conditions and a Reuters/Ipsos poll found more than 80% of Democrats see Israel's response as excessive.
26 Articles
26 Articles
US envoys blocked warning of Gaza turning into ‘apocalyptic wasteland’: Report
US envoys in occupied Palestine prevented a series of 2024 memorandums by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from reaching the Biden administration, silencing warnings about Gaza’s rapid collapse, according to a report.
US envoys to Israel barred early Gaza ‘apocalyptic wasteland’ warnings
Washington: About three months after the October 7, 2023, attack, which intensified Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip, employees of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had warned officials in the then US president Joe Biden‘s administration that northern Gaza has turned into an “apocalyptic wasteland,” with extreme food and aid shortages, with the written memo being blocked from being widely circulated in the government. …
US envoys to Israel blocked USAID warnings of Gaza ’wasteland’
US Agency for International Development (USAID) staffers in early 2024 drafted a warning to senior officials in Joe Biden’s administration: Northern Gaza had turned into an “Apocalyptic Wasteland” with dire shortages of food and medical aid. Three months after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip, the internal message laid out in gruesome detail scenes observed by United Nations staff who visited the area on …
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