War in Gaza ‘must end now’, urge UK and 24 allies

LONDON: Britain and 24 Western allies, including Australia, Canada, France and Italy, declared on Monday that the war in Gaza “must end now,” arguing that civilians’ suffering had “reached new depths.”

“We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire,” the grouping added in a joint statement.

“Further bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this.”

The signatories — which also included Japan, several EU countries, Switzerland and New Zealand — added they were “prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire.”

The wide-ranging statement branded the controversial Israeli-supported relief effort in Gaza as “dangerous” and said it 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,” the statement said.

“The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable,” it added, urging Israel to “comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.”

The statement called for the Israeli government “to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and effectively.”

The UN said last week that it had recorded 875 people who had been killed in Gaza while trying to get food via the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

It has replaced UN agencies as the main distributor of aid in the territory.

The 25-nation statement also condemned the continued detention of hostages in Gaza by Hamas militants, demanding “their immediate and unconditional release” and noting a negotiated ceasefire “offers the best hope of bringing them home.”

Meanwhile, the signatories said they “strongly oppose any steps toward territorial or demographic change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories” and said an Israeli plan to shift Palestinians into a so-called “humanitarian city” was unacceptable.

“Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law,” they warned.

The statement was also signed by EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib.