The UK, along with 27 other nations, has issued a joint call for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza, citing a “new depths” of suffering endured by civilians.
In a joint statement, the countries condemned Israel’s current aid delivery model as dangerous, decrying the “drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians” attempting to secure essential food and water.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, over 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces while awaiting food supplies over the weekend, with an additional 19 fatalities attributed to malnutrition.
Israel’s foreign ministry has refuted the statement from the 28 nations, labeling it as “disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas.”
The ministry further accused Hamas of spreading misinformation and obstructing aid distribution, rather than engaging in negotiations for a new ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
While numerous international statements have condemned Israel’s tactics during the 21-month conflict with Hamas, this declaration stands out for its directness.
The signatories include the foreign ministers of the UK and 27 other countries, such as Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
The statement begins with a resolute declaration: “the war in Gaza must end now”.
It continues with a stark warning: “The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.”
“We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy later addressed the House of Commons, describing a “litany of horrors” unfolding in Gaza, including strikes resulting in the deaths of “desperate, starving children.”
Announcing an additional £40m in humanitarian aid for Gaza this year, Lammy affirmed his “steadfast supporter of Israel’s security and its right to exist” but the government’s actions were “doing untold damage to Israel’s standing in the world and undermining Israel’s long-term security.”
Reports of Palestinians killed while awaiting food have been nearly daily since May, when Israel partially eased an 11-week total blockade on aid deliveries to Gaza and, along with the US, helped to establish a new aid system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to bypass the existing one overseen by the UN.
Israel has stated that the GHF’s system, which employs US private security contractors to distribute food parcels from within Israeli military zones, is intended to prevent supplies from being stolen by Hamas.
However, the UN and its partner organizations have declined to cooperate with the system, citing safety concerns and violations of the humanitarian principles of impartiality, neutrality, and independence.
Last Tuesday, the UN human rights office reported documenting 674 killings in the vicinity of the GHF’s aid sites since their establishment eight weeks prior. An additional 201 killings were recorded along routes of UN and other aid convoys, it added.
On Saturday, Gaza’s health ministry reported the deaths of 39 people near two GHF sites in Khan Younis and nearby Rafah. The Israeli military stated that its troops fired warning shots to deter “suspects” from approaching them before the sites opened.
On Sunday, the ministry reported that 67 people were killed as they approached a convoy of UN aid lorries near a crossing point in northern Gaza. The Israeli military stated that troops fired warning shots at a crowd “to remove an immediate threat” but disputed the numbers killed.
Following the incident, the World Food Programme warned that Gaza’s hunger crisis had “reached new levels of desperation.”
“People are dying from lack of humanitarian assistance. Malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment,” the UN agency said.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Monday that 19 people had died as a result of malnutrition since Saturday and warned of potential “mass deaths” in the coming days.
“Hospitals can no longer provide food for patients or staff, many of whom are physically unable to continue working due to extreme hunger,” Dr Khalil al-Daqran, a spokesperson for al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, told the BBC.
“Hospitals cannot provide a single bottle of milk to children suffering from hunger, because all baby formula has run out from the market,” he added.
Residents also reported that markets were closed due to food shortages.
“My children cry from hunger all night. They’ve had only a small plate of lentils over the past three days. There’s no bread. A kilogramme of flour was $80 (£59) a week ago,” Mohammad Emad al-Din, a barber and father of two, told the BBC.
The statement by the 27 countries also says Israeli proposals to move Gaza’s entire 2.1 million into a so-called “humanitarian city” in the southern Rafah area are unacceptable, noting that “permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law.”
They urge Israel, Hamas and the international community to “bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.”
And they warn that they are “prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace.”
That is seen by many as code for recognising a state of Palestine, something many countries have done but not all, including the UK and France.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein rejected the criticism.
“All statements and all claims should be directed at the only party responsible for the lack of a deal for the release of hostages and a ceasefire: Hamas, which started this war and is prolonging it,” he said.
“Instead of agreeing to a ceasefire, Hamas is busy running a campaign to spread lies about Israel. At the same time, Hamas is deliberately acting to increase friction and harm to civilians who come to receive humanitarian aid,” he added.
The Israeli military said earlier this month that it recognised there had been incidents in which civilians had been harmed while seeking aid and that it was working to minimise “possible friction between the population and the [Israeli] forces as much as possible.”
The Israeli military body responsible for co-ordinating aid, Cogat, also said on Monday that Israel “acts in accordance with international law and is leading efforts to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza in co-ordination with the international organisations.”
A spokesperson for the GHF meanwhile appealed to UN agencies to join its operation while also blaming them for “stopping” work and for failing to deliver supplies across the territory.
Chapin Fay told journalists that he had been to border crossings where he saw aid supplies “rotting” because UN agencies would not deliver them.
The Israeli foreign ministry said on Sunday that 700 lorry loads of aid were waiting to be picked up by the UN from crossings.
The UN has said it struggles to pick up and distribute supplies because of the ongoing hostilities, Israeli restrictions on humanitarian movements, and fuel shortages.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 59,029 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Hundreds of people have died in clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters in Suweida, reports say, as the authorities seek to reimpose order.
More than 100 others were also injured near two sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the Hamas-run health ministry and civil defence agency.
One woman tells the BBC she cowered in her home waiting for gunmen to enter and “decide whether we should live or die”.
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) documented a significant outbreak of brutality in the killings that gripped Suweida province.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu says Thursday’s strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City was a “mistake”.