LONDON
Britain’s foreign secretary reiterated his country’s strong opposition to Israel's "inhumane" and "dangerous" aid system and "utterly condemned" the killing of Gazans seeking food.
During his address Monday in the House of Commons, David Lammy pointed out that it has been around four months since Israel resumed its deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip, where nearly 60,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023.
Saying that Israeli forces have driven Palestinians out of 86% of Gaza and left around 2 million people trapped in an area scarcely over 20 square miles, he noted that whatever the Israeli government might claim, the repeated displacement of so many civilians is not keeping them safe, "in fact, it’s quite the reverse."
"The new Israeli aid system is inhumane, it’s dangerous, and it deprives Gazans of human dignity. It forces desperate civilians, children among them, to scramble unsafely for the essentials of life," he said.
The foreign secretary underlined that it is a "grotesque spectacle, wreaking a terrible human cost," while recalling that almost 1,000 civilians have been killed since May seeking aid, including 100 over this weekend alone.
"Israeli jets have hit women and children waiting for a health clinic to open...I utterly condemn the killing of civilians seeking to meet their most basic needs," he added.
"What possible military justification can there be for strikes that have killed desperate, starving children?”
Reiterating that he is a "steadfast supporter of Israel’s security and right to exist," Lammy however said that he firmly believes the Israeli government’s actions are doing "untold damage" to Israel’s standing in the world and undermining Israel’s long-term security.
Mentioning controversial statements by Israeli officials on driving Gaza’s entire population into Rafah, Lammy said this is a "cruel vision which must never come to pass."
"I condemn it unequivocally. Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law," he added.
Stressing that the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel must both commit to a ceasefire immediately, he said the next ceasefire "must be the last ceasefire."
- New humanitarian assistance
Lammy also announced an extra £40 million ($53.9 million) for humanitarian assistance in Gaza this year, including £7.5 million for the frontline medical aid charity UK-Med to sustain their vital operations in Gaza and save more lives.
In a statement, the Foreign Office noted that the UK will also provide £20 million in support for UNRWA’s essential services for Palestinian refugees
"This funding will provide emergency food, shelter and other support for over 2 million people, as well as support UNRWA’s wider work across the region," the statement noted.
Turning to the situation in the West Bank, Lammy said what is happening in the occupied Palestinian territory is an "unprecedented pace" of settlement expansion.
“Accompanying the horrors in Gaza, there is an accelerating campaign to prevent a future Palestinian state in the West Bank.
“It’s embraced by (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, it’s encouraged by his ministers. It’s driven by an extremist ideology which wants to suffocate the two-state solution, the only route to a lasting peace and security.
“We see it in the unprecedented pace of settlement expansion. In the shocking levels of settler violence, even settler terrorism, for that is what the most egregious ideological attacks are,” he added.
Turning to Israeli plans to construct new units in the E1 area of occupied east Jerusalem, Lammy underlined that these plans are "wholly unacceptable," "illegal," and "must not happen."