State Department Spokesperson Pressed About Criticisms Of ‘Combatant Israel’ Controlling Aid To Gaza

7 months ago

During Thursday’s State Department press briefing, Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott answered questions about humanitarian aid flow to Gaza.

Transcript

00:00Take some questions. Yes.

00:02Hi, it's Ellen Nickmeyer with the AP.

00:05Did the Trump administration on its Gulf trip raise the detentions of rights activists in Saudi Arabia?

00:16Did it ask for American citizens and American residents in Saudi Arabia to be able,

00:25allowed, free from travel bans and allowed to return home?

00:28And did it raise, relatedly, the issue of alleged UAE support to the RSF during the UAE stop?

00:44And separately, in a...

00:46Let me just address some of that.

00:47There's a lot there already to unpack.

00:49I'm not going to discuss private diplomatic conversations,

00:52but what I can say is that when U.S. citizens have raised the challenges they experience with exit bans,

00:57we have provided consular assistance and worked to ensure they receive fair and transparent treatment.

01:02That's what I have to offer there.

01:04When it comes to, again, I'm not going to talk about private diplomatic conversations,

01:09but when it comes to those reports, we have heard of those reports when it comes to the RSF.

01:14Both the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces have used weapons acquired from foreign actors against the civilian population

01:19and have committed human rights violations and abuses.

01:22Supplying arms to any of the belligerents prolongs the conflict

01:25and heightens the risk of further destabilization of Sudan and the region.

01:29The United States calls for an end to all external support to the warring parties

01:32and urges all our partners to press for a comprehensive cessation of hostilities

01:36and increased humanitarian access.

01:38I've got a second question, but I'll observe that the U.S. actually has sanctions on the UAE for UAE companies

01:47for support to the RSF.

01:50And separately, there's progress on the Gaza Humanitarian Fund says there's,

01:57Foundation says it's making progress with Israel on resuming aid in Gaza.

02:03Can you address, you know, explain what the U.S. role in that is?

02:08The U.S. government role, but what funding or support it's going to give,

02:13and if it's concerned by humanitarian groups' criticism that this violates humanitarian law

02:21by allowing a combatant Israel to control aid delivery to civilians?

02:28Well, look, one of the fundamental principles of this plan is that it is independent,

02:32meant to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.

02:34And we welcome the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's official launch yesterday.

02:38The Secretary also just spoke to this as well.

02:40We have seen what has happened in Gaza because of the hostilities that Hamas bears sole responsibility for.

02:47We have seen this announcement.

02:49We welcome creative solutions to get aid in there.

02:51But as the Secretary also just said, we need to see aid enter Gaza in a way that does not allow Hamas

02:57or other terrorists to take that aid.

02:59So we welcome this creative solution.

03:02We welcome the Foundation's announcement.

03:04I refer you to the Foundation itself for further details on this program.

03:08Good night.

State Department Spokesperson Pressed About Criticisms Of ‘Combatant Israel’ Controlling Aid To Gaza

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