The best British diplomat David Lammy says that the help distribution mechanism supported by the United States in Gaza “does not do a good job”.
British Foreign Minister David Lammy has decreed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying that the United Kingdom could take new measures against Israel if a cease-fire contract to end the war in Palestinian territory does not materialize.
Addressing Tuesday at the Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, Lammy also criticized the new Gaza aid distribution mechanism via a group supported by the United States and Israel, nicknamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
“We were very clear that we do not support the aid foundation that was created,” said Lammy. “It doesn’t do a good job. Too many people are close to famine. Too many people have lost their lives. We have led the system that has been put in place on our condemnation.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fires while asking for aid from the GHF in recent weeks.
Questioned by a legislator if the British government will take measures against Israel if the “intolerable” situation in Gaza continues, Lammy said: “Yes, we will.”
Last month, the United Kingdom joined Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway to sanction ministers of the Israeli government Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for prompting violence against the Palestinian communities in occupied West Bank.
A few weeks earlier, the United Kingdom had also suspended the talks for a free trade agreement with Israel on the blockade on Gaza, which sparked a famine crisis in the territory. And last year, London interrupted some arms exports to Israel.
While welcoming the moves, some supporters of Palestinian rights have criticized them as symbolic and not imposing serious consequences in Israel for its apparent abuse of international humanitarian law.
Lammy condemned the violence of the colonists on Tuesday and the expansion of the illegal Israeli colonies in the West Bank, saying that they “flout international law”.
Pressed if the pressure of the United Kingdom on Israel has led the Israeli government to modify its behavior, Lammy admitted that the change was “not enough”. However, he defended the London record, including recent movements against Israel and the support of the United Nations Agency for Raise and Works for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
“I am very, very comfortable that you find it difficult to find another G7 partner or another ally across Europe that does more than this government,” he said.
In the end, Lammy played in the influence of the United Kingdom in the Middle East, saying that it is “but an actor”.
The United Kingdom is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. It is also a great trading partner in Israel. And according to many media, the British Royal Air Force has made hundreds of surveillance flights over Gaza to help locate Israeli captives on the territory.
The United Kingdom has also suppressed Palestinian rights activists at home, recently prohibiting the defense group Palestine Action and arresting dozens of its supporters.
The Labor government in the United Kingdom has not recognized Palestine as a state – a decision that several European countries have made in the past year.
Lammy said London wanted her recognition of Palestine to be a concrete push towards the two -state solution, not just a symbolic gesture.
He added that the United Kingdom wants to recognize Palestine at a time that helps move “the dial against expansion, against violence, against the horrors that we see in Gaza, and towards the just cause which is the desire of the Palestinian state”.
But the president of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Emily Thornberry warned Lammy that with an expansion of settlement and annexed threats, if the United Kingdom continues to delay the decision to recognize Palestine, “there is nothing left to recognize”.
“We have to recognize a Palestinian state and then work to guarantee that we occur practically,” said Thornberry. “But if we continue to hold back, it will slide through our fingers.”