
UK, France and other nations call for an immediate end to war in Gaza
LONDON — Britain and more than 20 other countries called on Monday for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and criticized the Israeli government's aid delivery model after hundreds of Palestinians were killed near sites distributing food.
France, Italy, Japan, Australia, Canada, Denmark and other countries said more than 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid and condemned what it called the "drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians."
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 call for an end to the war and the way Israel delivers aid comes from several countries which are allied with Israel and its most important backer, the United States.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the accusation.
The UN has called the GHF's model unsafe and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards, which GHF denies. — Reuters
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Starmer said Britain would make the move at the United Nations General Assembly unless Israel took substantive steps to allow more aid to enter Gaza, makes clear there will be no annexation of the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a "two-state solution" - a Palestinian state co-existing in peace alongside Israel. He said his government would make an assessment in September on "how far the parties have met these steps", but that no one would have a veto over the decision. The prime minister reiterated that there was "no equivalence between Israel and Hamas and that our demands on Hamas remain, that they must release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, accept that they will play no role in the government of Gaza, and disarm". Why did Starmer do this? Successive British governments have said they will formally recognise a Palestinian state when the time is right, without ever setting a timetable or specifying the necessary conditions. 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His government dropped the previous administration's challenge over arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and has suspended some weapon sales to Israel. Last month, Britain sanctioned two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians. Who else has recognized Palestinian statehood? Last year, Ireland, Norway and Spain recognised a Palestinian state with its borders to be demarcated as they were prior to the 1967 Middle East war, when Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. However, they also recognised that those borders may change in any eventual talks to reach a final settlement, and that their decisions did not diminish their belief in Israel's fundamental right to exist in peace and security. 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Demonstrators hit cooking pots during an "Act NOW against Genocide in Gaza" protest, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Valletta, Malta, July 29, 2025. )REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi) UNITED NATIONS/LONDON —Britain said on Tuesday it would recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to relieve suffering in Gaza, where starvation is spreading, and reaches a ceasefire in the nearly two-year war with Hamas. The warning came after a hunger monitor said a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death. Palestinian authorities said more than 60,000 Palestinians were now confirmed killed by Israel's air and ground assault on the Gaza Strip. The hunger alert and the new death toll are grim milestones in a conflict that began almost two years ago when Hamas attacked Israel, sparking an offensive that has flattened much of the enclave and ignited hostilities across the Middle East. 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Trump told reporters at the time he did "not mind" if Britain did so. Evidence of starvation, malnutrition, disease With the international furore over Gaza's ordeal growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the U.N. World Food Programme said on Tuesday it was not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid since Israel began humanitarian pauses in warfare on Sunday. "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," the IPC said, adding that "famine thresholds" have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza. It said it would quickly carry out the formal analysis that could allow it to classify Gaza as "in famine". Gaza health authorities have been reporting more and more people dying from hunger-related causes. The total stands at 147, among them 88 children, most of whom died in the last few weeks. Images of emaciated Palestinian children have shocked the world, with Israel's strongest ally Trump declaring that many people were starving. He promised to set up new "food centres". Israel has denied pursuing a policy of starvation. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza was "tough" but there were lies about starvation there. Deadliest conflict The Gazan casualty figures, which are often cited by the U.N. and have previously been described as reliable by the World Health Organisation, underline the war as the deadliest involving Israel since its establishment in 1948. Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas' cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, when militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage - Israel's deadliest ever day. Since Israel launched ground operations in Gaza in October 2023, 454 soldiers have been killed. The new Palestinian toll does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Thousands more bodies are believed to be buried under rubble, meaning the true toll is likely to be significantly higher, Palestinian officials and rescue workers say. Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least 30 Palestinians in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, Gaza health authorities said. Doctors at Al-Awda Hospital said at least 14 women and 12 children were among the dead. The hospital also said that 13 people had been killed and dozens wounded by Israeli gunfire along the Salahudeen Road as they waited for aid trucks to roll into Gaza. Only half of requests approved Saar said 5,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the last two months, and that Israel would assist those wanting to conduct airdrops - a delivery method that aid groups say is ineffective and tokenist. Ross Smith, a senior regional programme adviser at the World Food Programme, told reporters in Geneva by video: "We're getting approximately 50% of what we're requesting into Gaza since these humanitarian pauses started on Sunday. "We are not going to be able to address the needs of the population unless we can move in the volume that we need." Israel and the U.S. accuse Hamas of stealing aid - which the militants deny - and the U.N. of failing to prevent it. The U.N. says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. Hamas accuses Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon.—Reuters