By Andrew MacAskill and Muvija M
LONDON (Reuters) -A group of 25 Western countries including Britain, France, and Canada said on Monday Israel must immediately end its war in Gaza and criticised what they called the “inhumane killing” of Palestinians, including hundreds near food distribution sites.
The countries in a joint statement condemned what they called the “drip feeding of aid” to Palestinians in Gaza and said it was “horrifying” that more than 800 civilians had been killed while seeking aid.
The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, which the United States and Israel backed to take over aid distribution in Gaza from a network led by the United Nations.
“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the countries’ foreign ministers said in a joint statement. “The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.”
The call by about 20 European countries, as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, for an end to the war in Gaza and the delivery of aid comes from many countries which are allied with Israel and its most important backer, the United States.
Among those calling for an end to the war are four out of five countries in the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes the U.S.
Israel’s foreign ministry said the statement was “disconnected from reality” and it would send the wrong message to Hamas.
“The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognise Hamas’s role and responsibility for the situation,” the Israeli statement said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar later said he spoke with his British counterpart David Lammy on Monday on regional issues, including Gaza. He blamed Hamas “for the suffering of the population and the continuation of the war”.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called the statement “disgusting” and said blaming Israel was “irrational” because Hamas rejects every proposal to end the war.
ISRAEL EXPANDS WAR
The plea from the other Western nations came as Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for the first time on Monday.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of the war that began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, with the latest deaths reported on Monday as Israel began a new incursion in central Gaza.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing the U.N.-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the accusation.
The U.N. has called the GHF’s model unsafe and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards, which the GHF denies.
The countries behind the statement said Israel was denying essential humanitarian assistance and called on the country to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.
They urged Israel to immediately lift restrictions to allow the flow of aid and to enable humanitarian organisations and the United Nations to operate safely and effectively.
They added they were “prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace” for Israelis and Palestinians.
Separately, the British government also set out a 60-million-pound ($80.9 million) humanitarian aid package for Gaza.
($1 = 0.7414 pounds)
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill and Muvija M in London, Menna Alaa El-Din in Cairo, and Ahmed Elimam in Dubai, editing by Elizabeth Piper, Aidan Lewis and Marguerita Choy)
