UK ramps up pressure on Israel over offensive in Gaza and West Bank

Foreign Secretary David Lammy hit out at the renewed military offensive in the Gaza strip and the restrictions on aid to the population of the territory, describing Israel's actions as "monstrous".

He also condemned the actions of "extremist" settlers in the West Bank , saying Mr Netanyahu's administration has a responsibility to intervene to halt their actions.

Israel has launched another major offensive in the territory in recent days, saying it aims to return dozens of hostages held by Hamas and destroy the militant group.

Strikes have pounded areas across Gaza and Israel has issued evacuation orders for Gaza's second-largest city, Khan Younis.

On Monday five aid trucks entered Gaza after Israel cut off all food, medicine and other supplies to the territory for three months to pressure Hamas over ceasefire terms.

On Tuesday, however, the United Nations said desperately needed aid had not yet reached people in the Strip, as experts warn many of its two million residents are at high risk of famine.

In London, Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely was called in to the Foreign Office, where Middle East minister Hamish Falconer said he would set out the government's opposition to the "wholly disproportionate escalation of military activity in Gaza " and emphasise that the 11-week block on aid "has been cruel and indefensible".

In the House of Commons, Mr Lammy said: "We have suspended negotiations with this Israeli government on a new free trade agreement."

He also said the UK is reviewing its co-operation with the Israeli administration, adding: "The Netanyahu government's actions have made this necessary."

Mr Lammy said Israel suffered a "heinous attack" on October 7, 2023 and the UK government has backed Israel's right to defend itself.

Military escalation ‘not the way to bring hostages home’

But the military escalation in Gaza was "morally unjustifiable, it's wholly disproportionate, it's utterly, utterly counterproductive - whatever Israeli ministers claim, this is not the way to bring the hostages safely home".

He said Mr Netanyahu's government was planning to drive Gazans from their homes and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.

As MPs called on him to label it a genocide, Mr Lammy said: "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."

In response to the situation in the West Bank , Mr Lammy announced measures, including financial restrictions and travel bans, targeting prominent settler leader Daniella Weiss and two other individuals, as well as two illegal outposts and two organisations accused of backing violence against Palestinian communities.

Mr Lammy said: "The Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions. Their consistent failure to act is putting Palestinian communities and the two-state solution in peril."

A number of MPs called on Mr Lammy to suspend all arms sales to Israel, sanction Israel's finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and to recognise a Palestinian state.

‘Israelis couldn’t give a damn what he (Lammy) says’

Conservative former minister Kit Malthouse said Mr Lammy's "anger and the outrage" was "appreciated by us all", but he added: "He knows as well as I do that the Israelis couldn't give a damn what he says in this chamber."

He said: "Over the last few months, we've tried anger and outrage and got nowhere. We've tried shaming ministers into action and got nowhere. So maybe we need to beg.

"Does the front bench need us to beg for the lives of those Palestinian children before they'll trigger this concrete action? Whatever it might be?

"I'm urging, begging the Foreign Secretary to pluck up all his moral authority and courage, stand up in Government against the blockage in Downing Street and please try to save these children's lives as soon as possible."

Mr Lammy said it was "wrong" of Mr Malthouse to claim that "Israelis couldn't give a fig what (is) said from this front bench", but the government announced further sanctions "because of the position of this Netanyahu government and the language that we see from these ministers".

He added: "It was why I was so shocked that his own front bench couldn't stand up and find their own moral authority."

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said he was glad to see "the Foreign Secretary finally find some fire in his belly on this issue", as he called for MPs to have a vote on recognising the state of Palestine, ending all arms sales to Israel , and whether they support the work of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In May last year the ICC issued arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and then-defence minister Yoav Gallant .

In July, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion that ruled Israel should pay reparations to the Palestinian people and that their policies violate the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination .

Independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, Ayoub Khan, said that "lawyers instructed by this Government" have been "unequivocal in that it is this Government's firm position that no genocide is occurring" in a case brought by Palestinian rights organisation Al-Haq.

Mr Lammy said Mr Khan's question was a "crude caricature of a very serious issue", adding: "I took a decision back in September in relation to international humanitarian law and suspending arms sales that could be used in Gaza , because these are very, very serious issues, I understand the issues that are before the ICC and the ICJ."

Israel's retaliatory offensive, which has destroyed large swathes of Gaza , has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

‘Anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations’

Responding to the suspension of trade talks, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said "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."

He said the sanctions in relation to the West Bank were "unjustified and regrettable".

And he added: "The British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago.

"External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction."

Elsewhere, Sir Keir Starmer said the "intolerable" situation in Gaza was the pretext for the UK's actions.

Humanitarian aid needs to get into Gaza "at pace", the Prime Minister said.

He added: "The current situation in which we are seeing the bombardment including of children, and the prospect of starvation, is just intolerable.

"Which is why, as I say, we are co-ordinating with our allies on this."

Fifty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to still be alive, following the attack by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.