As the deadline set by the Biden administration last month for Israel to step up aid deliveries to Gaza passed on Tuesday, human rights groups demanded that the U.S. stick to its commitment to holding the Israeli government accountable for what one advocate called “a campaign of ethnic cleansing.”

But the White House’s refusal over the last 13 months to follow U.S. and international law provoked doubt that it would do so.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on October 13, giving Israel 30 days to allow at least 350 humanitarian aid trucks per day into Gaza, open a fifth crossing into the enclave, and ensure access to northern Gaza for aid groups, among other specific steps outlined in the letter.

Noncompliance would violate National Security Memorandum 20, which President Joe Biden issued in February to demand credible assurances from Israel that it was acting according to international law, and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits the U.S. from providing military aid to countries that are blocking U.S. humanitarian aid.

Advocates have said for months that Israel and the U.S. have been violating both statutes, as mounting evidence has shown U.S. weapons have been used in Israeli attacks on civilians and United Nations experts have warned Gaza has descended into famine.

Louise Wateridge, a senior emergency officer for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said Tuesday that the Biden administration’s warning 30 days ago did not improve conditions in Gaza, with aid entering the enclave “at its lowest level in months.”

“Thousands and thousands of people have been killed senselessly. They have been killed because there is lack of aid, because the bombs have continued, and because we have not been able to even reach them under the rubble,” Wateridge said at a press briefing in Geneva. “The average for October was 37 trucks a day into the entire Gaza Strip… That is for 2.2 million people… Children are dying. People are dying every day.”

With the number of daily deliveries since October 13 far below the level stipulated by the Biden administration, Wateridge emphasized that “anything that happens now is already too late.”

As the deadline passed, Israel appeared eager to put new humanitarian aid efforts on display, with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT)........

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