Israel’s allies condemn expansion of war in Gaza
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
By Aaron Boxerman and Stephen Castle
Israel’s threats to drastically escalate the war in the Gaza Strip and its blockade of humanitarian aid to a Palestinian population at risk of famine have drawn the sharpest condemnation yet from some powerful Western allies since the conflict began 19 months ago.
On Tuesday, Britain said it was suspending talks with Israel on expanding a free-trade agreement. The day before, Britain, France and Canada had issued a rare public reprimand of Israel, demanding it cease the renewed military offensive.
“We have always supported Israel’s right to defend Israelis against terrorism,” a joint statement by the three countries said. “But this escalation is wholly disproportionate.”
The message made clear that Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, the high Palestinian death toll and the abysmal humanitarian conditions in Gaza were pushing some of the country’s most powerful international supporters to the limits of what they would tolerate.
Israel is threatening to take full control of Gaza in the next stage of the war and hem Palestinians there into even more limited zones. Israel has also been blocking humanitarian aid from Gaza for more than two months, even as the U.N. warns that the population is under threat of famine.
This past weekend, Israel said it would begin allowing some humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza. But the authorities let only five trucks in Monday.
A senior U.N. humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher, told the BBC on Tuesday that 14,000 babies in Gaza could die in the next 48 hours unless truckloads of aid could enter. He said thousands of trucks, some containing baby food, were ready to move in.
Britain, France and Canada called the expanded Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza and the withholding of aid “egregious actions” that cannot continue.
“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” the statement said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Britain, France and Canada had handed a “huge prize” to Hamas. He accused them of tacitly encouraging a repeat of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, that killed some 1,200 people in Israel, with 250 taken as hostages to Gaza.
“This is a war of civilization over barbarism,” Netanyahu said on social media. “Israel will continue to defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved.”
The statements from allied countries were a distinct contrast from the early days after the 2023 attack, when governments rushed to back Israel. But as the death toll in Gaza grows and suffering deepens, diplomatic support is fading.
Israel has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The United States, Israel’s most powerful patron, has not publicly criticized the renewed Israeli offensive. But President Donald Trump has increasingly bypassed Netanyahu, cutting a separate deal with Hamas to free the last living American hostage and skipping Israel on his trip to Middle East last week.
On Friday, Trump said “a lot of people are starving” in Gaza under the Israeli blockade and the United States wanted to help alleviate the suffering.
In Britain on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced in Parliament the suspension of free-trade talks with Israel, condemning what he said were Netanyahu’s plans to “drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”
European officials have privately expressed “increasing frustration and even anger with Israeli actions in Gaza,” said Hugh Lovatt, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. The statement Monday by the allies was “a significant change in tone and message,” he added.
In March, Israel ended a two-month ceasefire with Hamas that would have freed the hostages in exchange for an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has said Israel could not accept anything less than for Hamas to disarm and its leaders to go into exile.
It is far from clear whether a more intense Israeli assault would defeat Hamas. Israeli forces have reduced much of Gaza to rubble while Hamas has recruited thousands of new fighters.
Much of the international criticism has centered on the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, a direct consequence of the two-month Israeli blockade that barred food, medicine and other essential relief from entering. Aid organizations suspended their operations as food stockpiles dwindled. Doctors reported malnutrition among children.
European officials met in Brussels on Tuesday, in part to discuss whether Israel had violated its association agreement with the European Union over human rights violations against the Palestinians.
On Tuesday, Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign minister, said the EU could decide to suspend its agreement with Israel unless the Gaza offensive were halted. That would put Israel in the same category as Syria, Liberia and Zimbabwe.
“The blind violence and the humanitarian blockade by the Israeli government have made Gaza into a deathtrap,” Barrot said in a radio interview.