“We hope that such a proud and prosperous democracy will respect international humanitarian law, even when challenged in this way,” Cameron said.
The article was published on the sixth anniversary of the October 7 attack by the Hamas militant group on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage. Israeli retaliation has killed more than 33,000 people in the Gaza Strip, the Gaza Health Ministry announced on Sunday.
The attacks on the humanitarian convoy last Monday sparked a backlash from Israel’s close allies, including the United States, who called for easing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The enclave’s entire population of 2.3 million faces acute food insecurity, monitoring groups have warned.
In his editorial, Cameron reiterated his call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to “allow more aid into Gaza”, and he detailed plans to channel British aid to the Israeli port of Ashdod. He also supported a maritime humanitarian corridor between Cyprus and Gaza, inaugurated last month.
British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden also criticized the Netanyahu government, telling Sky News on Sunday that Israel had made “big mistakes” and that “we should hold them to account.”
The ministers’ remarks follow a week of heated debate in the UK over whether the UK should stop exporting arms to Israel.
The Israeli army reduced its presence in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, withdrawing all its ground troops except for a brigade, according to a military spokesperson cited by Reuters. It is unclear what this development means for Israeli plans for a ground operation in Rafah to defeat Hamas, a prospect about which the United States has expressed concern.
Politico
