US troubled by Netanyahu’s approach to Gaza war: Envoy

JERUSALEM

US envoy to Israel Jack Lew said Friday that his country's administration is frustrated with the Israeli government's actions regarding humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth daily, the envoy said the US administration is deeply frustrated and troubled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the urgent need for food, water, and sanitation in the Gaza Strip.

He clarified that the US has worked hard to facilitate the entry of aid to Gaza by sea, describing the process as "neither easy nor cheap."

He said there is "significant progress" in the quantity of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip.

"I will not sit here and say that the mission is over. We need more trucks to enter all parts of Gaza,” he added.

Regarding the possibility of a prisoner exchange deal and a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, Lew said: “I’m not going to talk about the alternative if there is no hostage deal because, honestly, I don’t think we can accept an alternative where there is no deal.”

“The hostage deal is critical, not only as a humanitarian issue but also as a regional strategic matter,” he added.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack in early October by the Palestinian group Hamas killed around 1,200 people.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,750 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul