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A kitchen running on donations and external funding from international organizations distributed food Sunday to hundreds of Palestinians waiting with pots and buckets in hand, in the area of Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration stepped up criticism of Israel for not doing enough to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza as a 30-day deadline looms for Israeli officials to meet certain requirements or risk potential restrictions on military assistance.

The administration also condemned recent violence against Palestinians in the West Bank by extremist Jewish settlers and says those responsible must be held to account.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller gave Israel a "fail" grade Monday in terms of meeting the conditions for an improvement in aid deliveries to Gaza laid out in a letter last month to senior Israeli officials by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

He said there were still about nine days until the deadline expires, but limited progress thus far is insufficient.

Palestinians gather to receive bags of flour distributed by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, Saturday in Deir al Balah, central Gaza Strip.

"As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around," Miller told reporters. "We have seen an increase in some measurements. But if you look at the stipulated recommendations in the letter, those have not been met."

A day before the U.S. election, the Biden administration called out its close ally, with support for Israel a key issue for many voters and the humanitarian crisis for Palestinians also a factor for many in the race. Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are competing for Muslim, Arab American and Jewish voters in battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Among other conditions, Austin and Blinken's letter from mid-October said that Israel must allow in a minimum of 350 trucks a day carrying desperately needed food and other supplies for Palestinians besieged by more than a year of war between Israel and Hamas.

By the end of October, an average of just 71 trucks a day were entering Gaza, according to the latest U.N. figures.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller answers questions during a news briefing July 18, 2023, at the State Department in Washington.

"The results are not good enough today," Miller said. "They certainly do not have a pass. … They have failed to implement all the things that that we recommended. Now, that said, we are not at the end of the 30-day period."

He would not say when asked what the U.S. would do when the deadline comes up next week, just that "we will follow the law."

Similarly, Austin has been reinforcing "how important it is to ensure that humanitarian assistance can flow and flow faster into Gaza" in calls with his Israeli counterpart, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, told reporters Monday.

The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, known as COGAT, said it evacuated 72 patients from hospitals in northern Gaza to other medical facilities Monday and brought medical supplies as well as fuel, food, water and units of blood.

The head of UNICEF, the U.N. agency for children, said over the weekend that "the entire Palestinian population in North Gaza, especially children, is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine, and the ongoing bombardments."

Miller also said the U.S. is looking into a decision by the Israeli government to end an agreement facilitating the work of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, which is the main aid provider in Gaza.

It followed the passage of Israeli laws last week to sever ties with UNRWA, a move that Blinken and Austin opposed in their letter.

Palestinians inspect burned vehicles Monday after an early morning attack by Israeli settlers on the outskirts of the West Bank city of al-Bireh.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday that it notified the U.N. of the cancellation of an agreement dating back to 1967 that facilitates UNRWA’s work. Israel alleges that UNRWA is infiltrated by Hamas, which the agency denies.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated that UNRWA is essential and there is no alternative to its work in the Palestinian territories, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

More than a year of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.

People inspect a destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike Sunday in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon.

In Lebanon, the country's Health Ministry said Monday the 13-month war between Israel and Hezbollah militants has killed more than 3,000 people.

The war shows no signs of ending, and Israel says it’s carrying out new operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure across Lebanon and in parts of Syria while Hezbollah continues to launch dozens of rockets into northern Israel.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after Hamas militants’ surprise attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, ignited the war in Gaza. Hezbollah and Hamas are both allied with Iran.

For nearly a year, the conflict was mostly contained to the areas along the border between Israel and Lebanon. The conflict dramatically escalated on Sept. 23 with intense Israeli airstrikes on south and east Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, leaving hundreds dead and displacing almost 1.2 million people.

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