The UK suspended free trade talks with Israel on Tuesday and hit West Bank settlers with sanctions, less than a day after vowing “concrete actions” if Israel didn't stop its new military offensive in Gaza.
Pressure from close allies is mounting on Israel following a nearly three-month blockade of supplies into Gaza that led to famine warnings. Even the United States, a staunch ally, has voiced concerns over the hunger crisis, AP reports.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the government couldn't continue talks on upgrading its existing trade agreement with an Israeli government pursuing what he called egregious policies in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“History will judge them," Lammy said. "Blocking aid. Expanding the war. Dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible. And it must stop.”
Israeli’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, was summoned to the Foreign Office, where Middle East minister Hamish Falconer said he would call the 11-week blockade of aid to Gaza “cruel and indefensible.”
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc was reviewing an EU pact governing trade ties with Israel over its conduct of the war in Gaza.
Kallas, speaking on Tuesday at a press conference in Brussels after chairing a meeting of foreign ministers, said “a huge majority” of member nations are “very keen on sending this message that the suffering of these people is untenable.” She did not provide clear details on timing and mechanisms for the review.
Lammy said the UK was imposing sanctions on a further “three individuals, two illegal settler outposts and two organizations supporting violence against the Palestinian community.”
He said the illegal Israeli settlements were spreading across the West Bank “with the explicit support of this Israeli government.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Oren Marmorstein, called the sanctions against West Bank settlers “unjustified and regrettable” and said the free trade agreement negotiations were not being advanced by the UK anyway.
While Lammy’s words were welcomed by some in the House of Commons, others called for stronger action, suggesting economic sanctions against Israel and recognizing the state of Palestine.
A handful of members shouted for him to call Israel’s actions “genocide,” though Lammy labeled it “extremism” and “monstrous.”
Still others criticized the joint statement, saying it favoured Hamas.
“Opposing the expansion of a war that has killed thousands of children is not rewarding Hamas,” Lammy said.
Israel eases Gaza blockade slightly; only 5 aid trucks enter since Monday
The UK announcement followed comments by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called children's suffering in Gaza “utterly intolerable” and repeated his call for a ceasefire.
“I want to put on record today that we’re horrified by the escalation from Israel,” Starmer said.
Earlier on Monday, Starmer joined French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in issuing one of the most significant criticisms by close allies of Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza and its actions in the West Bank.
The three leaders threatened to take “concrete actions” if the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not cease its renewed military offensive and significantly lift restrictions on humanitarian aid.
Netanyahu called the statement “a huge prize” for Hamas.
Starmer said a ceasefire was the only way to free the dozens of hostages Hamas still holds. He also called for increased shipments of humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying the basic quantity allowed by Israel is “utterly inadequate.”
“This war has gone on for far too long,” Starmer said. “We cannot allow the people of Gaza to starve.”
While Israel allowed a first few trucks with baby food and desperately needed supplies to begin rolling into Gaza on Monday, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described it as a “drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed.” Israel said dozens more trucks entered Tuesday.