The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department’s refugees bureau concluded in April that Israel was deliberately blocking aid to Gaza, according to a report by the news site, ProPublica.

In a 17-page memo sent to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, USAID documented several examples of Israel blocking aid into the besieged Gaza Strip - including Israel killing aid workers, destroying agricultural structures, bombing ambulances and hospitals, and flat-out turning away trucks filled with food and medicine.

The head of the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration said Israel was blocking aid and argued that its actions should trigger the Foreign Assistance Act, which bars military support from going to any nation that restricts the delivery of assistance.

Stacy Gilbert, a former senior civil-military advisor in the refugees bureau, resigned over Blinken’s report to Congress, saying in a public statement that there "is abundant evidence showing Israel is responsible for blocking aid”.