Biden envoy told aid groups Israel too close an ally for US to suspend arms

The top U.S. official working on the humanitarian situation in Gaza told aid groups in August that the U.S. would not consider withholding weapons from Israel for blocking food and medicine from entering the enclave — a rare admission by someone in the administration.

At the Aug. 29 meeting in Washington, Lise Grande told the leaders of more than a dozen aid organizations that the U.S. could potentially consider other tactics to convince Israel to allow life-saving aid into Gaza — such as applying pressure through the United Nations, but stressed that the administration would continue to support Israel and would not delay or stop weapons shipments.

That account is based on conversations with three people in the meeting and two others who were briefed on it, along with a set of detailed notes from the encounter reviewed by POLITICO. The people were granted anonymity in order to speak more freely about Grande’s assessment and because they feared their organizations’ work might be further interrupted in Gaza.