After U.S. ultimatum, Israel immediately promises to open new aid routes into Gaza

Israel promised to open new humanitarian aid routes into Gaza immedi‐ ately after being threat‐ ened Thursday with an ulti‐ matum from its most im‐ portant international ally.

A border crossing into northern Gaza and an Israeli port will both be used to de‐ liver food and aid for the first time since the Mideast con‐ flict erupted last fall, Israel announced.

This promise to use the Erez land crossing and the Ashdod port for aid came within hours of Israel receiv‐ ing an unprecedented threat from U.S. President Joe Biden.

The U.S. had warned its Middle Eastern ally to imme‐ diately adjust course in cer‐ tain aspects of its war in Gaza during a half-hour phone call between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel provided no public timeline for the opening but the White House said in a statement it would be in‐ tently watching for progress: "[This] must now be fully and rapidly implemented."

The phone call, the U.S. said earlier, was spurred by the deaths of seven aid work‐ ers, including a CanadianAmerican citizen, killed earli‐ er this week in Israeli strikes.

WATCH | Washington pushes for change in Gaza:

"There's been growing frustration," with Israel's han‐ dling of the war, White House spokesman John Kirby said Thursday.

In the coming hours and days, he said, the U.S. would look for several specific changes: new humanitarian aid crossings into Gaza, an immediate ceasefire as Israel takes new steps to protect civilians, and more move‐ ment in hostage negotia‐ tions.

In an indicator of the shifting politics of the war, this marked the first time the Biden administration had threatened publicly to use its leverage on Israel to get spe‐ cific changes in Gaza.

In Washington, criticism of

Israel, once relegated to the fringe, has moved into the mainstream, with Biden fac‐ ing particular pressure from his party's left.

What's less clear is what, exactly, the U.S. is threaten‐ ing Israel with.

The White House has re‐ peatedly refused to offer specifics on just what will happen if it remains unsatis‐ fied with what it hears back from Netanyahu's govern‐ ment.

For example, Kirby side‐ stepped the question of whether the U.S. would halt weapons transfers. He simply said the U.S. will adjust its policies, based on what Israel does next.

"What we want to see are some real changes on the Is‐ raeli side. And if we don't see changes from their side, there'll have to be changes from our side," he said.

"But I won't preview what that could look like."

On a related note, Kirby declined to comment on ex‐ traordinary allegations about one reason for the high num‐ ber of civilian casualties in Gaza.

Israeli and British new outlets this week reported on an artificial intelligence pro‐ gram, called Lavender, that the Israeli military has al‐ legedly used to compile a list of people who might be Hamas operatives.

The list purportedly grew to 37,000 at one point; it eventually shrank, as the search criteria were adjusted. The people on that list were allegedly targeted for bombing, even if they were with numerous civilians.

Military personnel rarely questioned the AI before ap‐ proving strikes on entire resi‐ dential dwellings, said the re‐ ports.

Weapons shipments

The greatest leverage the U.S. has over Israel, potential‐ ly, is its weapons sales.

American media recently reported the U.S has quietly delivered more than 100 weapons shipments to Israel since Oct. 7- including thou‐ sands of munitions, bombs and small arms - on top of two shipments totalling some $253 million US that were publicly known. The adminis‐ tration has also pressed Con‐ gress to approve transfers of $18 billion US in fighter jets.

Netanyahu on Thursday said such shipments are key to finishing the war faster.

"Victory is within reach. We are very close," he said.

Looming over all this is the Iran angle. An escalation of hostility between Israel and its nearby rival could prolong the conflict, broaden it, and potentially even fur‐ ther draw in the U.S.

Tehran has threatened reprisals for a recent Israeli strike that killed several of its military commanders gath‐ ered at a diplomatic com‐ pound in Syria.

Netanyahu spoke briefly about his potential reaction, should Iran strike: "Whoever harms us, or plans to harm us, we will harm them," he said before a cabinet meet‐ ing.

It was during that same meeting that the Netanyahu war cabinet approved the new aid routes, indicating that the hardline and more nationalist elements of the government were forced to accept them.

In Washington, a progres‐ sive foreign-policy group ap‐ plauded the shift in tone from Biden. It was "a step in the right direction," said the Center for International

Policy.

But it demanded more, and urged several policy ac‐ tions including the use of U.S. leverage for a full ceasefire and and fully enforcing U.S. law and arms policy in aid of adequate humanitarian ef‐ forts.

Former Bush official cal‐ ls for trade penalties against Israel

"The urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza... requires more than stern words," it said.

And it's not just the pro‐ gressive left urging Biden to harden his line. So are more moderate lawmakers.

Richard Haass, a pillar of Washington's centrist for‐ eign-policy establishment, a former official in two Repub‐ lican administrations, is call‐ ing for trade sanctions and controls on weapons trans‐ fers.

"At some point the words become empty," Haass, now the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said on MSNBC.

He said that, in the first Bush administration, the U.S. confronted Israel on its set‐ tlements in the occupied ter‐ ritories.

Haas said it's time, now, to put tariffs on goods from West Bank settlements, and place conditions on U.S. weapons transfers.