UK joins call for 'immediate' end to war in Gaza, as IDF launches offensive on Deir al-Balah
The joint statement, released by the Foreign Office, condemns the "horrifying" killing of Palestinians seeking aid, and brands Israeli government's aid strategy in Gaza as "dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity."
It comes as the IDF ordered the evacuation of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, with charities in the city reporting Israeli military vehicles on the ground.
The statement was signed by the Foreign Secretary David Lammy and foreign ministers of other 24 nations including Canada, Australia and France, and the EU Commissioner for Equality.
They condemn the "drip feeding of aid" and the "inhumane" killing of civilians, including children, while searching for water and food.
It continues: "It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.
"The Israeli Government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.
"The hostages cruelly held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023 continue to suffer terribly. We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release. A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families.
"We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life-saving work safely and effectively."
Meanwhile, the IDF has ordered Palestinians to evacuate Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and move south towards Al-Mawasi.
Deir al-Balah had previously been considered one of the less hard-hit parts of the territory, and had been a key hub for humanitarian efforts.
Posting on X (formerly Twitter), a spokesman for the IDF said the army continued to operate with "great force" and was expanding its operations into "an area it has not operated in before."
A spokesperson for charity Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) has described the situation in Deir al-Balah as "extremely critical."
They added: "Shelling is taking place all around our office, and military vehicles are just 400 metres away from our colleagues and their families, who endured a harrowing night after relocating there.
"Everyone is now evacuating, with most unsure where to go next. One colleague shared that the area is filled with shelling and quadcopter strikes, and there's growing fear about both staying and attempting to leave.'
Smoke was seen rising over the Gaza Strip on Monday as Israel widened evacuation orders.
On Sunday, Medical Aid for Palestinians confirmed the IDF's evacuation order area included humanitarian and primary healthcare sites it operated.
It said the forced displacement orders do not allow for the transport medial equipment or supplies.
Steve Cutts, MAP's Interim CEO, said: 'This latest forced displacement order is yet another attack on humanitarian operations and a deliberate attempt to sever the last remaining threads of Gaza's health and aid system.
'MAP now has to suspend critical services we have been providing to the Palestinian population, including a primary health clinic that serves hundreds of civilians every day.
"With Israel's systematic targeting of health and aid workers, no one is safe. Not only are we prevented from carrying out our lifesaving work to support Palestinians, we are also unable to protect our own teams."
As talks for a ceasefire continue, the death toll in Gaza has reached more than 59,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.
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South Wales Guardian
an hour ago
- South Wales Guardian
UK working on plans to air drop aid into Gaza, PM says
The Prime Minister held emergency talks with Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz on Saturday amid mounting global anger at the humanitarian conditions in the enclave. In a readout of the call, Number 10 said the leaders had agreed 'it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently-needed ceasefire into lasting peace'. 'The Prime Minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to air drop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance,' a Downing Street spokesperson said. However, the head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency warned airdrops were 'a distraction and screensmoke' that would fail to reverse deepening starvation in Gaza, and could in some cases harm civilians. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Saturday: 'A man-made hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need.' Israel said on Saturday it was allowing UN convoys to transport aid into Gaza, as well as airdrops, and that it had reconnected power to a desalination plant into the territory, where there is widespread devastation. The readout made no mention of the issue of Palestinian statehood, which the Prime Minister has faced calls to immediately recognise after French President Mr Macron confirmed his country would do so in September. However, Downing Street said the leaders had committed to 'work closely together on a plan' to 'pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region'. Once the proposals have been 'worked up', they will seek to advance them with other key partners, including in the region, the readout said. Some 221 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and independents have signed a letter pressuring the Government to follow suit at a UN meeting next week. Sarah Champion, the senior Labour MP who organised the letter by parliamentarians, said recognition 'would send a powerful symbolic message that we support the rights of the Palestinian people'. Other senior Commons figures who signed the letter include Labour select committee chairs Liam Byrne, Dame Emily Thornberry and Ruth Cadbury. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, as well as Tory former minister Kit Malthouse, and Sir Edward Leigh – Parliament's longest-serving MP – also signed it. The majority of those who have signed, 131, are Labour MPs. The Government has so far said its immediate focus is on getting aid into the territory and insisted that recognising statehood must be done as part of a peace process. Charities operating in Gaza have said Israel's blockade and ongoing military offensive are pushing people there towards starvation, warning that they are seeing their own workers and Palestinians 'waste away'. But Mr Lazzarini said airdrops can be dangerous as they can fall on civilians, and that being able to drive aid through is more effective and safer. 'Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians,' he said. 'It is a distraction and screensmoke.' In a statement on Saturday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said 'airdrops of aid will resume' including 'seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food'. It said it would allow 'safe movement of UN convoys delivering food and medicine' but that the military 'emphasises that combat operations have not ceased'. The state also said that there was 'no starvation' in Gaza, despite increasing accounts of malnutrition and starvation-related deaths. US President Donald Trump has suggested Mr Macron's announcement, which saw him commit to formally recognising Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly in September, 'doesn't matter'. The Prime Minister will meet the US president during his trip to Scotland, where he arrived on Friday evening. Ceasefire talks have been at a standstill after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams on Thursday, with Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of a 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. Foreign Secretary David Lammy's opposite number Dame Priti Patel said she had 'repeatedly pressed' him on 'what specific and deliverable solutions he is trying to advance on aid'. 'The British Government needs to be leveraging its influence and the UK's considerable aid expertise to bring about practical solutions that alleviate the dire and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza,' she said. 'The priority must be to get as much aid in as possible, delivered safely and exclusively to innocent civilians. 'Diplomacy is about finding solutions, not just issuing condemnations.' Meanwhile, Israel's ambassador to the UK said recognising Palestinian statehood would 'reward' hostage-taking and killing by Hamas. 'Recognising a Palestinian state in a post-October 7 reality would be nothing less than a reward for terrorism,' she wrote in the Telegraph.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Is change coming over a Palestinian state?
Each was serenely at odds with the screams, pain and anger that had accompanied the deaths of their owners. It was a beautiful early spring day in 2001, and the Second Palestinian Intifada – or uprising – was now into its sixth month. Hot and weary after an afternoon spent interviewing some Palestinians about where they thought the uprising was now heading, I had sought sanctuary from the tension of the streets in the West Bank town of Ramallah in the cool and calm of the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre art gallery. READ MORE: 'Not in our name': Hundreds gather in Scottish cities to protest Donald Trump Here, only the tapping of shoe heels and gentle sputtering of the candles that lined the dimly lit gallery floor intruded on the quiet. I had already witnessed so much killing in the years that I'd spent covering this battle of wills between Israelis and Palestinians. But little did I know that day, as I made my way through this exhibition of photographs and objects entitled The Hundred Martyrs, that in the decades to come, the suffering and sacrifice would escalate to the unimaginable levels of today. During my visit, the exhibition's curators told me how they had been inundated with requests from the relatives of other Intifada victims who wanted their loved ones' belongings and memories to be part of this temporary monument. Each of the objects displayed underneath the photographs in transparent plastic cases represented individual shrines. Their value was not material, but purely symbolic in that they belonged to a 'martyr' – someone who had died directly or indirectly as a result of the uprising. In each instance, curators' assistants had journeyed out through the Israeli checkpoints and cordons that surrounded Palestinian communities to collect these personal photographs and artefacts. They stood alone as a testament to an individual life. Lives not just remembered, but preserved, along with stories equally powerful and emotive. I remember that day stopping before the empty birdcage belonging to 15-year-old Nizar Eideh of Ramallah, who, on the morning just before he was shot dead in stone-throwing clashes with Israeli troops, released a bird he had bought a few days earlier, worried that the bird's mother might miss him. Almost two-and-a-half decades later, photographs and objects, just like those in The Hundred Martyrs exhibition, continue to serve as mute witnesses to a generation of Palestinians in peril. One such image released just this past week shocked the world. The harrowing photograph taken by journalist Ahmed al-Arini of 18-month-old infant, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq in his mother's arms, bones visible from starvation and dressed only in a nappy improvised from a bin bag, is difficult to look at. So much of what we see coming out of Gaza these past 21 long months has been difficult to look at, let alone absorb and comprehend. As my good friend the Palestinian writer Raja Shehadeh – himself a human rights lawyer – observed recently, ultimately 'it will be our humanity, not international law that will judge and hold Israel and its allies accountable'. I so hope Shehadeh is right, even if at times that humanity seems absent in the response of so many people right now. That latest picture from Gaza of 18-month-old Muhammad reminds me of another from Gaza back during the Second Intifada. In its own way, it too became a defining image. The 12-year-old boy in that earlier picture was also called Muhammad. It was on September 30, barely days after the start of the Second Intifada, that Mohammed al-Durra was killed as his father tried to shield him after being caught in Israeli crossfire at Gaza's Netzarim Junction. Caught on live television, the youngster's horrific death was broadcast around the world. In Baghdad, they would subsequently name a street after this little boy. In Morocco, a public park. In Jordan, the Taekwondo Federation named their annual championship after him. In other Arab countries, postage stamps were issued carrying his picture. The TV pictures of his death became a rallying cry for international action, and to this day, the circumstances surrounding Mohammed al-Durra's killing remain the subject of anger, controversy and debate. Some Israeli officials even insisted at the time that it was 'staged' by the Palestinians, while one pro-Israeli American academic derisorily called the pictures nothing more than 'Pallywood cinema'. Even in death, it seemed, little Mohammed al-Durra continued to be a target in this, a conflict where there must always be two stories. As a journalist covering the Intifada at that time, I, like others, wondered just for a moment whether maybe, just maybe, something good might come from such a tragedy. Perhaps at long last, from the haunted look on the face of this little boy, the realisation might dawn that the eye-for-an-eye score settling between Israelis and Palestinians could not continue forever. In a recent article of his own, Raja Shehadeh asked two important questions. How is it that most Israelis do not acknowledge their humanity? How are they able to show no remorse for what their army is carrying out in their name? Back during the time of both the First and Second Intifadas, many Israelis then too seemed able to live with the atrocities they heard and read about daily. For some Israelis – sheltering just beyond the shadow of such bloodshed – the self-deception required to do so was made easier by the fact that the carnage was largely confined to the occupied territories and rarely trickled onto their own streets. The attacks of October 7, 2023, by Hamas on Israeli communities subsequently put paid to that, of course, and today, both Israelis and Palestinians are living with the terrible consequences. But even back during those early Intifada times, not every Israeli – as is the case today – turned the other way. In the autumn of 1988, shortly after the start of the First Intifada, the Israeli novelist, A B Yehoshua, was so disgusted by the complacency of his fellow citizens that he said he now understood how so many Germans after World War Two could say they had never seen or heard of the Holocaust concentration camps. It goes without saying, of course, that Yehoshua's comments went straight to the heart of the Israeli psyche and generated a bitter backlash. But whether Israelis liked it or not, the irrefutable evidence of widespread human rights abuses against ordinary Palestinians was there to see for anyone who took the time to go and look for themselves. In today's digital world, of course, there is no need to do that, for images like those of Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq inevitably manage to seep out into our consciences. This happens in part thanks to the courage of Palestinian journalists. It happens also despite an Israeli ban on international reporters having access to Gaza. It means too that we cannot ignore the mass starvation before our eyes. AS I write this, one in three Gazans goes multiple days without eating. Malnourished mothers can no longer produce milk to breastfeed their children, the injured are unable to heal, and hospitals have run out of nutritional supplements to treat countless emaciated infants like Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq. Just a few days ago, countries, including Britain and many member states of the European Union (EU), condemned the 'drip feeding' of aid. But let's call this man-made starvation for what it really is, given that any inadequate provision of aid to civilians on terrain that is, in effect, under occupation is a war crime. In response, Israel says such criticisms are 'disconnected from reality.' But for so long now – going back decades – it has been Israel that has chosen to block out the uncomfortable reality of what it was becoming. Those journalists like myself and others, who have watched this perverse metamorphosis, began witnessing the tell-tale signs years ago. Once again, by way of example, I need only cast my mind back to one of many instances during the Second Intifada. It was April 2002, during what the Israelis – using a characteristic misnomer – had dubbed 'Operation Defensive Shield' that I watched hundreds of Palestinian men herded together under guard by soldiers in armoured personnel carriers in the al-Amari refugee camp in Ramallah. Blindfolded, their hands still bound behind their back, my colleague and I watched as Israeli soldiers wrote a number on each of the prisoners' forearms before the men were then forced to sit silently in the baking sun with guns trained on them, each waiting their turn for interrogation. Such methods repeated time and again in the following days outraged some Israelis, who felt they were reminiscent of the Nazis during World War Two. As increasing evidence emerged, many Israelis were compelled to speak out. Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, a member of the Israeli parliament, leader of the Shinui Party and a former concentration camp victim, confronted Israeli General Shaul Mofaz during a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, saying that, as a Holocaust survivor, he found the IDF methods intolerable and shocking. In a letter to Dr Shevah Weiss, the chair of Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Mohammed Barakeh, an Arab-Israeli Knesset member, put into words the thoughts of many over Israel's tactics during the ongoing invasion of the West Bank at that time. 'In these wretched days, I've asked myself more than once how, within such a short period of history, the victim has become the murderer, and a people who, perhaps, suffered more than any other from arbitrary repression and refugee status, is capable of meting out the same fate to others,' Barakeh grimly noted. From what I witnessed in Ramallah and elsewhere during those days, it was evident that the Israeli army's 'tactics' made a mockery of its claim to believe in 'purity of arms'. More recently in Gaza, this contradiction has been borne out time and again. This weekend, as France prepares to declare its recognition of a Palestinian state and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer comes under increasing pressure to do the same, his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition government appear undeterred. Speaking recently about French president Emmanuel Macron's insistence that recognising Palestine was a 'moral duty', Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, pledged Israel would further tighten its grip on the West Bank. 'They will recognise a Palestinian state on paper – and we will build the Jewish-Israeli state on the ground,' he said. 'The paper will be thrown in the trash can of history and the State of Israel will flourish and prosper,' Katz attested. Bold words, but ones that as a long-term observer of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I believe have an increasingly hollow ring. Instead, I'm of the view that we are fast approaching a critical juncture in this seemingly interminable battle of wills. Yes, I know talk of a 'turning point' has been mooted many times in the past, but there is just an inkling that the political ground is shifting on both sides of what the Israeli writer Amos Elon once described as an 'irresistible force colliding with an immovable body'. Forget the River Jordan, for it's the Rubicon that is being crossed here for both Palestinians and Israelis alike. Given what has unfolded in Gaza, there is no going back to the way things were for either side and that in itself could lead to a tectonic political shift. Much of the world now sees through Israel's victimhood veil, and Netanyahu's use of war to keep himself in power has all but run its course. As for the Palestinians, they must seize the opportunity to capitalise on any growing goodwill like never before and endeavour to do what they have failed to achieve for the past 30 years – unity. As for the international community, to repeat Raja Shehadeh's words, 'it will be our humanity, not international law' that will in the end win the day. All these remarks might seem out of step with the political moment, but the irrefutable fact is that there will be no peace until there is a Palestinian state. To that end, I for one can't help but sense a whiff of change in the air. Insubstantial yet, perhaps, but undeniable, nonetheless.
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
'Spineless': Quarter of Keir Starmer's Cabinet blasted Donald Trump's last UK trip
A total of seven Cabinet ministers – including the current Foreign Secretary and Scottish Secretary – accused the US president of 'misogynism, racism and xenophobia' on the eve of his 2019 visit. A motion signed by 106 MPs before Trump's last visit poured scorn on the commander in chief, highlighting his climate-denying extremism and called on the then-prime minister Theresa May to cancel his invitation. Put forward by Stephen Doughty, now a Foreign Office minister, it also slammed Trump's comments about Sadiq Khan – who was at the time and remains Mayor of London. Trump had previously called Khan a 'stone-cold loser who should focus on crime in London' and in 2016 challenged him to take an IQ test. It comes as Trump continues his trip to Scotland, visiting his golf courses in Aberdeen and [[Aberdeen]]shire and having meetings with [[Keir Starmer]] and John Swinney. His second state visit is expected in September. Doughty's motion was sponsored by Alison McGovern, Angela Eagle and Catherine West, who are now ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office and the Foreign Office, respectively. Cabinet ministers who backed the scathing Trump take-down include Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray and Labour Party chair Ellie Reeves (above). Also from the current Cabinet are Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens, Environment Secretary Steve Reed and Lucy Powell, the leader of the House of Commons. Additionally, 13 current ministers and Government whips signed the motion and two former ministers: Tulip Siddiq and Anneliese Dodds. The motion said the Commons 'deplores the record of US president Donald Trump, including his misogyny, racism and xenophobia'. It went on to condemn 'his previous comments on women, refugees and torture' and his 'lack of action on climate change and failure to support the Paris Climate Change Deal'. The motion concluded by noting the 'historical significance and honour that comes with the choice to offer a full state visit to an individual' and demanded that May revoke Trump's invitation. Trump's first state visit to the UK was met with immense controversy, with then-Commons speaker John Bercow making an unprecedented intervention on the matter, telling MPs: 'Before the imposition of the migrant ban, I would myself have been strongly opposed to an address by president Trump in Westminster Hall. 'After the imposition of the migrant ban, I am even more strongly opposed to an address by president Trump in Westminster Hall.' His comments were applauded by the opposition benches after saying that Parliament should demonstrate its 'opposition to racism and sexism'. The Scottish Secretary (above) last week claimed that Trump could expect a 'warm welcome' in Scotland – despite the police saying they would be managing their biggest operation, due in part to major protests, since the Queen's death. Murray said: 'The office of the president of the United States and the office of the Prime Minister are ones that work very, very closely together, and should do, because it's in our national interest to do so.' Lammy has also changed his tune dramatically on Trump since his first presidency. In 2018, the then-backbencher called Trump a 'tyrant' and 'a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath'. Confronted about his past comments, following Trump's re-election, Lammy dismissed them as 'old news', claiming one would 'struggle to find any politician" who had not said some "pretty ripe things" about Trump in the past. He added: 'I think that what you say as a backbencher and what you do wearing the real duty of public office are two different things. 'And I am Foreign Secretary. There are things I know now that I didn't know back then.' Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie (above) told the Sunday National: 'Labour's capitulation to [[Donald Trump]] is spineless, unprincipled, immoral and dangerous. '[[Donald Trump]] is a dangerous authoritarian who is actively trying to dismantle democratic institutions, has threatened to invade our allies in Canada and Greenland, is advocating ethnic cleansing in Gaza, and is abducting innocent people off the street to send to foreign torture camps. 'But instead of standing up for those who are under attack, Labour have chosen to give him, in the words of Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, a 'warm welcome'. In doing so, they lend his agenda international credibility, helping him to expand it at home and abroad. 'If Labour can't even stand up against Trump, they don't stand for anything at all.' Labour were approached for comment.
