Exclusive: U.S. Envoys in Jerusalem Blocked Internal Warnings of 'Apocalyptic' Gaza Conditions

By Erin Banco, Jonathan Landay and Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Senior U.S. diplomats in Jerusalem repeatedly blocked the distribution of internal State Department cables in early 2024 that provided stark, firsthand accounts of an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in northern Gaza, according to former U.S. officials and documents reviewed by Reuters.

The suppressed reports, drafted by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), described a landscape of severe famine, abandoned corpses, and a collapse of civil order. One February 2024 cable, citing United Nations staff on a fact-finding mission, warned that the region had become an "apocalyptic wasteland."

U.S. Ambassador to Jerusalem Jack Lew and his deputy, Stephanie Hallett, prevented the warnings from circulating widely within the U.S. government. Four former officials said the envoys argued the cables lacked "balance," despite their basis in U.N. observations. The blockage meant senior White House officials, including those overseeing a new U.S. arms policy tied to international law, did not see the graphic assessments.

"These cables would have represented an official acknowledgement by the ambassador of the reality on the ground," said Andrew Hall, a former USAID crisis operations specialist. "Instead, humanitarian expertise was repeatedly sidelined."

The war, triggered by Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel, has now killed over 71,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. As the conflict raged, USAID—the U.S. government's primary aid agency—relied on U.N. partners to document conditions where U.S. diplomats could not go. Their reports detailed bones in the streets, critical shortages of food and water, and a rapidly failing health system.

While the White House received general warnings of famine, the specific, visceral accounts from USAID were filtered out. In one instance, a cable on food insecurity did reach the President's Daily Brief, alarming deputy national security adviser Jon Finer. But at least four other cables were stopped in Jerusalem.

Former officials said Hallett sometimes requested edits or questioned the need for reports, suggesting the information was already public. During sensitive ceasefire talks, some cables were deemed "too sensitive" for distribution. The reliance on third-party U.N. data also fueled skepticism among some Biden aides, who contrasted it with Israel's version of events.

The episode highlights internal tensions within the Biden administration as it balanced unwavering support for Israel with mounting evidence of humanitarian disaster—a political rift that continues to divide the Democratic Party.

Reactions & Analysis:

Sarah Chen, Humanitarian Policy Analyst at the Center for Conflict Studies: "This isn't about bureaucratic process; it's about accountability. Blocking these reports deliberately obscured the scale of suffering from decision-makers who needed the unfiltered truth."

Michael Rossi, Former State Department Official: "Ambassadors have a duty to curate information flow. If reports were unverified or duplicative of public sources, holding them back is a legitimate, if difficult, judgment call."

David Feldman, Advocacy Director for Aid Access: "It's outrageous. While people were starving, officials were worrying about 'balance.' This censorship likely delayed a more robust U.S. response to the famine. It's a moral failure."

Priya Sharma, U.N. Correspondent: "The systemic sidelining of USAID's reporting undermines the very purpose of having a premier aid agency. It suggests that on-the-ground reality was secondary to political messaging."