U.S. envoys stationed in Israel blocked a series of internal government warnings describing Gaza as nearing an “apocalyptic wasteland,” according to a detailed investigation published by Reuters, placing renewed focus on how humanitarian assessments were handled during the Biden administration’s response to the war.
Reuters Report on USAID Gaza Memos and U.S. Embassy Oversight
Staff members at the U.S. Agency for International Development drafted multiple memos in early 2024 after a humanitarian fact-finding mission to Gaza conducted in January and February, during which agency officials documented what they assessed as catastrophic civilian conditions. The memos highlighted extreme shortages of food and safe drinking water and described scenes that included bodies and human remains visible along roadways. These findings were conveyed months after Israel’s military campaign began in October 2023, yet the cables were prevented from wider circulation by the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, and his deputy, Stephanie Hallett, on the grounds that the language lacked balance, despite having been cleared through USAID channels.
USAID Concerns, Military Aid, and Growing Scrutiny
The Reuters investigation stated that five such cables were ultimately restricted, with only one January 2024 memo addressing food insecurity allowed broader distribution. U.S. officials told Reuters that the unusually graphic nature of the suppressed findings would likely have drawn high-level attention within the administration and could have prompted scrutiny of U.S. military assistance to Israel, which Reuters reported had reached at least $22 billion by October 2024. A former USAID crisis operations specialist cited by Reuters said the blocked cables would have formally acknowledged conditions on the ground, while the report noted that the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem maintained authority over the language and dissemination of Gaza-related communications. Reuters also documented repeated embassy requests for revisions to fact-finding reports from UN agencies, even after clearance by USAID and the State Department’s Office of Palestinian Affairs. Separately, Reuters reported that the Israeli military on Thursday accepted the Palestinian health ministry’s reported death toll of at least 71,000 people in Gaza, a figure that does not account for those missing under rubble or deaths linked to disease and starvation. At least 48,000 Palestinians were killed during President Joe Biden’s time in office, underscoring the scale of the humanitarian emergency described in the suppressed assessments.