UK suspends trade talks with Israel over Gaza
Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed today that Britain has suspended trade talks with Israel over its “intolerable” actions in Gaza, hours after the UN warned that 14,000 babies in the Palestinian enclave could die in the next 48 hours if aid does not reach them.
Addressing MPs in the Commons this afternoon, Lammy said that the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, has been summoned to the Foreign Office, where she will be told that Israel’s 11-week aid blockade, cutting off all supplies of food, medicine and fuel to the Gaza Strip, “has been cruel and indefensible”.
Lammy singled out Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich: “Yesterday, Smotrich even spoke of Israeli forces cleansing Gaza, destroying what’s left of residents, Palestinians being relocated, he said, to third countries… we must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
The Foreign Secretary drew a careful distinction between the Israeli government and the people of Israel, the latter of whom he addressed directly, telling them: “The conduct of the war in Gaza is damaging our relationship with your government… and undermining the interests of the Israeli people”. He added that Netanyahu’s refusal to halt military action in Gaza was putting remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas at a "heightened risk”.
The UK government also levelled new sanctions on settlers in the occupied West Bank today, including on the high-profile settler, Daniella Weiss, who recently appeared in the BBC’s Louis Theroux documentary.
Yet there is no sign so far that the Israeli government is fazed by Lammy’s actions. “If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy – that is its own prerogative”, said Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein in response to the announcement of a pause in trade negotiations.
Over the weekend, Netanyahu ended Israel’s total aid blockade on Gaza, saying he would let a “minimal” amount of food into the strip. In a video posted on social media, Netanyahu said that although Israel was deploying “massive force to take control of all of the Gaza Strip … we cannot reach a point of starvation, for practical and diplomatic reasons.”
Yesterday, the UN said that nine aid trucks were authorised to enter Gaza and today it confirmed that Israel has given it permission for around 100 aid lorries to enter Gaza.
Netanyahu’s decision to allow “minimal” supplies into Gaza was at odds with his ultra-nationalist coalition partners. National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, said letting any aid into the strip would be “a grave mistake hindering our victory”.
Meaning Netnayhu’s decision to do so points to international pressure. Explaining the decision, he said Israel’s “closest friends in the world,” including US politicians, told him they could not “handle pictures of mass starvation.”
It’s not just the UK shifting its stance. Yesterday, Britain, France and Canada released a joint statement, saying that, after the "heinous attack" on 7 October, they believed that the Israeli state "had a right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate".
“The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable,” they continued, warning that “if Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete steps in response". They did not specify what those steps might be.
The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, also told reporters this evening that EU foreign ministers are preparing to discuss a Dutch proposal to review the EU-Israel trade accord signed in 2000.
Will any of this tougher talk from allies persuade Netanyahu’s government to re-think its plan to “flatten” Gaza? Almost certainly not, unless it is accompanied by a dramatic pivot from Washington.
Caitlin Allen
Deputy Editor
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