Gaza crowding worse than prisons, UK Foreign Secretary warns

David Lammy says failing to stop the killing has brought Israel into 'disrepute'

David Lammy, the UK Foreign Secretary, has described Gaza's displacement areas as more densely populated than any prison in the world as he warned Israel had put itself “beyond the global community”.

Mr Lammy has signed a letter from 28 countries condemning the aid distribution system that Israel has set up in Gaza, where hundreds of people have now died queuing for food. Failure to bring the war to a close had brought Israel into “disrepute”.

“I think I say the same that most people in the British public feel, that they watch with horror the children waiting for aid being shot and killed, people being crowded into 15 per cent of Gaza, the density now of Gaza higher than any prison in the world,” Mr Lammy said on Tuesday. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation-led aid system was, he said, a “grotesque spectacle”.

Aid pressure mounts on Israel as Gaza's suffering hits 'new depths'

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Palestinians gather to collect humanitarian aid from a distribution point in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

War crimes?

The Foreign Secretary has refused to intervene on the question of Israeli war crimes in the Gaza conflict and the British government has still not given its response to a landmark ruling on Israel's actions at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, last year.

Former Conservative cabinet minister Kit Malthouse challenged Mr Lammy to end “complicity by inaction” by failing to toughen government policy.

“Can he not see his inaction and frankly cowardice is making this country irrelevant?” he asked. “Can he also not see the personal risk to him, given our international obligations, that he may end up at The Hague because of his inaction?”

A banner on Labour Party's HQ on Tuesday in London. REUTERS / Isabel Infantes

Mr Lammy has suggested he would announce a raft of sanctions over the coming weeks, having targeted Israeli cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich in the past few months.

“There will be more, clearly, and we keep all of those options under consideration if we do not see a change in behaviour and the suffering that we are seeing come to an end,” he said. “It’s important that we continue to work with international partners if we are to have the maximum result.

No breakthrough

“But what I want to see is a ceasefire and it’s my assessment that once the Knesset [the Israeli parliament] rises on July 28, we are more likely to see a ceasefire come into effect.”

Mr Lammy maintains that Israel is “tarnishing” its reputation by ignoring calls from Britain and other nations for an immediate ceasefire.

He said he suspended a large number of arms sales licences to Israel last September because of a “clear risk of a breach of international humanitarian law”.

The ministers' joint letter urged the Israeli government to “immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid”.

It described the proposals to move 600,000 Palestinians to a so-called “humanitarian city” in Rafah as “completely unacceptable”.

In a statement shared on Monday afternoon, the politicians said: “The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.

“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemn the drip-feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”

They said it was “horrifying” that hundreds of Palestinians “have been killed while seeking aid” and the “Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable”.

The foreign ministers reiterated calls for the remaining hostages held by Hamas to be released and asked for “all parties to protect civilians and uphold the obligations of international humanitarian law”.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday said the government's priority was to secure a ceasefire, a regionally supported reconstruction effort and support for the Arab peace plan.