UK, France and 23 Other Nations Condemn Israel over ‘Inhumane Killing' of Civilians
The countries in a joint statement condemned what they called the 'drip feeding of aid' to Palestinians in Gaza and said it was 'horrifying' that more than 800 civilians had been killed while seeking aid.
The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, which the United States and Israel backed to take over aid distribution in Gaza from a network led by the United Nations.
'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' the countries' foreign ministers said in a joint statement. 'The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.'
The call by about 20 European countries, as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, for an end to the war in Gaza and the delivery of aid comes from many countries which are allied with Israel and its most important backer, the United States.
Among those calling for an end to the war are four out of five countries in the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes the U.S.
Israel's foreign ministry said the statement was 'disconnected from reality' and it would send the wrong message to Hamas.
'The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognise Hamas's role and responsibility for the situation,' the Israeli statement said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar later said he spoke with his British counterpart David Lammy on Monday on regional issues, including Gaza. He blamed Hamas 'for the suffering of the population and the continuation of the war'.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called the statement 'disgusting' and said blaming Israel was 'irrational' because Hamas rejects every proposal to end the war.
ISRAEL EXPANDS WAR
The plea from the other Western nations came as Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for the first time on Monday.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of the war that began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, with the latest deaths reported on Monday as Israel began a new incursion in central Gaza.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing the U.N.-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the accusation.
The U.N. has called the GHF's model unsafe and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards, which the GHF denies.
The countries behind the statement said Israel was denying essential humanitarian assistance and called on the country to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.
They urged Israel to immediately lift restrictions to allow the flow of aid and to enable humanitarian organisations and the United Nations to operate safely and effectively.
They added they were 'prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace' for Israelis and Palestinians.
Separately, the British government also set out a 60-million-pound ($80.9 million) humanitarian aid package for Gaza.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
10 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Dutch Summon Israeli Ambassador, Impose Travel Ban on Ministers
AMSTERDAM, July 29 (Reuters) – The Dutch government will summon Israel's ambassador to the Netherlands to denounce the 'unbearable and indefensable' situation in Gaza and has imposed travel bans on two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, it said in a letter published late on Monday. Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich will no longer be allowed to enter the Netherlands, which accuses them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians and calling for an 'ethnic cleansing' of the Gaza strip. The Dutch decision follows similar moves last month by Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. The government said it supported the EU's recommendation to curb Israeli access to its flagship research funding programme and said it would press for European trade sanctions if Israel was found to be in breach of its agreement with the European Union on increasing aid supplies.
Yomiuri Shimbun
13 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Two Rights Groups Are First Israeli Voices to Accuse Israel of Genocide
JERUSALEM, July 28 (Reuters) – Two Israeli human rights organisations said on Monday Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the first major voices in Israeli society to level the strongest possible accusation against the state, which vehemently denies it. Rights group B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel released their reports at a press conference in Jerusalem, saying Israel was carrying out 'coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza strip'. 'The report we are publishing today is one we never imagined we would have to write,' said Yuli Novak, B'Tselem's executive director. 'The people of Gaza have been displaced, bombed and starved, left completely stripped of their humanity and rights.' Physicians for Human Rights Israel focused on damage to Gaza's healthcare system, saying: 'Israel's actions have destroyed Gaza's healthcare infrastructure in a manner that is both calculated and systematic'. Israel has fended off accusations of genocide since the early days of the Gaza war, including a case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned as 'outrageous'. Israel has consistently said its actions are justified as self-defence, and Hamas is to blame for harm to civilians, for refusing to release hostages and surrender, and for operating in civilian areas, which the militant group denies. A spokesperson for the Israeli government called the allegation made by the rights groups on Monday 'baseless'. 'There is no intent, (which is) key for the charge of genocide … it simply doesn't make sense for a country to send in 1.9 million tons of aid, most of that being food, if there is an intent of genocide,' said spokesperson David Mencer. Israel's military also rejected the reports' findings as 'baseless'. It said it abides by international law and takes unprecedented measures to prevent harm to civilians while Hamas uses them as 'human shields'. Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Israel has often described that attack, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, as genocidal. Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins, and displaced nearly the entire population of more than two million. Accusations of genocide have particular gravity in Israel because of the origins of the concept in the work of Jewish legal scholars in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust. Israeli officials have in the past said using the word against Israel was libellous and antisemitic. When Amnesty International said in December that Israel had committed genocidal acts, Israel's foreign ministry called the global rights group a 'deplorable and fanatical organisation'. The 1948 Genocide Convention, adopted globally after the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis, defines genocide as 'acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group'. PALESTINIAN PLIGHT GAINING ATTENTION At a Jerusalem cafe, Carmella, a 48-year-old teacher whose grandparents survived the Holocaust, said she was distressed over the suffering an hour's drive away, inside Gaza. 'It feels difficult to me as an Israeli, as a Jew, to watch those images and feel anything but tremendous compassion and horror, to be honest. I feel horror.' International attention to the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza has intensified in recent weeks, with U.N. agencies saying the territory is running out of food. Israel, which controls all supplies in to Gaza, says it has let enough food in, and blames the U.N. for failing to distribute it. Israel shut off all supplies in March for nearly three months, reopening the territory in May but with restrictions it says are needed to prevent aid from ending up in the hands of fighters. Since then, its forces have shot dead hundreds of Gazans trying to reach food distribution sites, according to the United Nations. Israel has announced measures in recent days to increase aid supplies, including pausing fighting in some locations, allowing airlifts of food and safer corridors for aid. Throughout the conflict, Israeli media have tended to focus mainly on the plight of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Footage widely broadcast in other countries of destruction and casualties in Gaza is rarely shown on Israeli TV. That has been changing, with recent images of starving children having a little more impact, said Oren Persico from The Seventh Eye, a group that tracks trends in Israeli media. 'It's very slowly evolving,' he said. 'You see cracks.' But he did not expect the genocide allegation would spark a major shift in attitudes: 'The Israeli perception is: 'what do you want from us? It's Hamas' fault, if it would only put down its weapons and (release) the hostages this could all be over'.' In an editorial in the Jerusalem Post on Sunday, Dani Dayan, the chairman of Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, said it was not accurate to accuse Israel of committing genocide. 'But that does not mean we should not acknowledge the suffering of civilians in Gaza. There are many men, women, and children with no connection to terrorism who are experiencing devastation, displacement, and loss,' he wrote. 'Their anguish is real, and our moral tradition obligates us not to turn away from it.'
Asahi Shimbun
13 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
U.S.-China tariff talks may provide clues on a possible Trump-Xi meeting
Chinese vice prime minister He Lifeng, center, waves as he arrives at Rosenbad before trade talks between the U.S. and China in Stockholm, Sweden, July 28, 2025. (TT News Agency via AP) STOCKHOLM--Top trade officials from China and the United States launched a new round of talks on Monday in a bid to ease tensions over tariffs between the world's two biggest national economies. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng were meeting at the offices of Sweden's prime minister for two days of talks, which Bessent has said will likely lead to an extension of current tariff levels. But other possible outcomes will be scrutinized by markets and businesses for signs of a rapprochement, after brinkmanship earlier this year. Analysts say the talks could set the stage for a possible meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year. Other issues on the agenda include access of American businesses to the Chinese market; Chinese investment in the U.S.; components of fentanyl made in China that reach U.S. consumers; Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil; and American steps to limit exports of Western technology — like chips that help power artificial intelligence systems. The talks ended for the day after nearly five hours on Monday and were set to reconvene on Tuesday morning. Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator and now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said that Trump's team would face challenges from 'a large and confident partner that is more than willing to retaliate against U.S. interests.' Rollover of tariff rates 'should be the easy part,' she said, warning that Beijing has learned lessons since the first Trump administration and 'will not buy into a one-sided deal this time around.' 'Beijing is more prepared and will insist on movement on U.S. tech export controls at a minimum — a difficult ask for Washington,' she said, adding that many conversations will take place in the lead-up to any Xi-Trump summit. 'Success is far from guaranteed,' Cutler said. 'There are numerous trip wires that can throw a wrench in this preparatory process.' The U.S.-China trade talks are the third this year, nearly four months after Trump upended global trade with his sweeping tariff proposals, including an import tax that shot up to 145% on Chinese goods. China retaliated with tariffs reaching 125% against U.S. goods, sending global financial markets into a temporary tailspin. The Stockholm meeting, following similar talks in Geneva and London, is set to extend a 90-day pause on those tariffs. During the hiatus, U.S. tariffs have been lowered to 30% on Chinese goods, and China set a 10% tariff on U.S. products. The Trump administration, which just completed a deal on tariffs with the European Union, wants to reduce a trade deficit of $904 billion overall last year, including a nearly $300 billion trade deficit with China. China's Commerce Ministry said last week that the 'consultations' would raise shared concerns through the principles of 'mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.' The talks with Beijing are part of a flurry of U.S. trade negotiations set off by Trump's arm-twisting 'Liberation Day' tariffs against dozens of countries. Since then, some talks have borne fruit in reaching deals. Others have not. Without an extension by Aug. 12, the tit-for-tat U.S.-China tariffs could snap back to the triple-digit levels seen before the 90-day pause reached in Geneva. Many other countries — including some developing ones that depend on exports to the U.S. — face a deadline of Friday, as the Trump administration has said that letters will go out beforehand with set rates. Critics say Trump's tariffs penalize Americans by forcing U.S. importers to shoulder the costs or pass them on to consumers through higher prices. On Friday, Trump told reporters that 'we have the confines of a deal with China' — just two days after Bessent told MSNBC that a 'status quo' had been reached between the two sides. While the Chinese side has offered little guidance about the specifics of its aims in Stockholm, Bessent has suggested that the situation has stabilized to the point that China and the U.S. can start looking toward longer-term balance between their economies. For years, since China vaulted into the global trading system about two decades ago, the United States has sought to press leaders in Beijing to encourage more consumption in China and wrest greater market access to foreign-made — including American — goods. Other sticking points in the relationship include overcapacity in China — by far the world's largest manufacturer — and concerns about whether Beijing is doing enough to control chemicals used to make fentanyl, analysts say. In Stockholm, the Chinese will likely demand the removal of a 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump imposed earlier this year, said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based Stimson Center. Experts say long-term progress in the U.S.-China trade relationship will hinge on structural changes. Those include increased manufacturing in the United States, which is part of Trump's ambition. On the Chinese side, that could involve a reduction of excess Chinese production in many industries, including electric vehicles and steel, and increased Chinese consumer spending to ease imbalances in China's export-driven economy. Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said the the talks in Stockholm offer an opportunity for the two governments to address structural reform issues. Businesses will watch for clues about a possible Trump-Xi summit, because any real deal will depend on a meeting between the pair, he said. A deal is possible because 'a lot of the things that the U.S. wants, the Chinese want as well,' Stein said. China, for example, is interested in buying U.S. soybeans and aircraft and parts, and Chinese businesses are interested in investing in U.S. manufacturing — which would help meet Trump's goal of reindustrialization. Bessent has also said the Stockholm talks could address Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil.
