WASHINGTON
\nUS Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday and discussed Israel\u2019s operations in Lebanon and the humanitarian situation in Gaza after a letter earlier this week to Israel from Washington that urged improvement of Gaza\u2019s humanitarian situation.
\n\u201cThe Secretary encouraged the Government of Israel to continue taking steps to address the dire humanitarian situation, noting the recent action by Israel to increase the amount of humanitarian assistance entering Gaza,\u201d the Pentagon said in a statement on Wednesday.
\nUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Austin wrote to Israeli officials on Sunday demanding concrete measures to address the worsening situation in the Palestinian enclave, or face potential restrictions on US military aid.
\nThe Pentagon readout after the Wednesday call did not mention the letter.
\nIsrael\u2019s military assault on Gaza has killed almost 42,000 Palestinians in the last year, caused a hunger crisis, displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million population and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.
\nIsrael says it is acting in self-defense after an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 with about 250 also taken as hostage and triggered the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
\nAustin and Gallant also discussed an advanced US anti-missile system that Washington has deployed to bolster Israel\u2019s air defenses, the Pentagon said.
\n\u201cAustin and Minister Gallant discussed the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery as an operational example of the United States\u2019 ironclad support to the defense of Israel,\u201d the Pentagon said.
\nIsrael\u2019s military operations in Lebanon, where it says it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, has killed over 2,000 people and displaced over a million.
\nThe region has been on edge over an expected Israeli response to Iran for a missile attack that Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel\u2019s escalations in Lebanon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday and discussed Israel\u2019s operations in Lebanon and the humanitarian situation in Gaza after a letter earlier this week to Israel from Washington that urged improvement of Gaza\u2019s humanitarian situation. \u201cThe Secretary encouraged the Government of Israel to continue taking steps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-437972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n