U.S. diplomats in Jerusalem allegedly blocked dispatches detailing the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, according to Reuters.
“Apocalyptic Wasteland” in Gaza Strip
Reuters describes a warning that USAID employees developed for the Joe Biden administration. Based on information collected by a UN mission in January-February 2024, USAID employees detailed the dramatic situation of Palestinians after Israel attacked Gaza. Reports mentioned bodies left in vehicles and “catastrophic needs of people, especially in terms of food and safe drinking water.” The reports described Gaza as an “apocalyptic wasteland.”
US Ambassador Blocked Dispatches
Reuters reports that five dispatches about the dramatic conditions in Gaza were created. One was shown to journalists, while the others were learned through informants. According to Reuters, US Ambassador to Jerusalem Jack Lew and his deputy Stephanie Hallett blocked wider distribution of the dispatches in the Biden administration, reportedly considering them unobjective.
Lew and Hallett have not responded to the information. According to US officials who spoke to the agency, the descriptions in the dispatches were extremely graphic and would have drawn attention from Biden administration representatives. They believed knowledge of this information would lead to increased oversight over the National Security Memorandum, which tied U.S. weapons and intelligence deliveries to Israel to compliance with international law.
Andrew Hall, then a crisis operations specialist at USAID, told Reuters: “Although the dispatches were not the only way of providing information about humanitarian conditions, they would have constituted confirmation by the ambassador of how the situation in the Gaza Strip actually looks.”
Truce in Gaza Strip
A truce negotiated with the participation of the United States and Arab countries has been in effect in the Gaza Strip since October 10, 2025, in the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas that began on October 7, 2023. After the truce came into effect, Hamas freed all living Israeli hostages and began handing over the bodies of people who died in captivity to Israel.
According to the Palestinian side, since the truce came into effect, over 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military actions. Meanwhile, on Saturday, January 24, three people, including two children, were killed in two Israeli attacks, according to the Palestinian side. The Israeli army argues it was an operation to prevent a bomb attack and denies that there are children among the dead.
Since October 2023, nearly 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the report.