The UK has slapped Israel with further sanctions and suspended trade talks with the country in response to violence against Palestinians in Gaza.
David Lammy blasted Israel for a “morally unjustifiable” escalation in violence as he announced fresh measures to pile pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu, just hours after the UK, Canada and France on Monday warned they will take “concrete actions” against the Middle Eastern nation.
The foreign secretary also announced that Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely has been summoned to the Foreign Office, where government minister Hamish Falconer said he would tell her “the 11-week block on aid to Gaza has been cruel and indefensible”.
It comes as violence escalated in Gaza following a renewed military offensive and continued restrictions on aid, which Mr Lammy said marked a “dark new phase in this conflict”.
Speaking in the Commons, he condemned Netanyahu’s government for “planning 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”.
On Monday, Mr Netanyahu’s government said it would allow a “basic” amount of aid into Gaza to prevent a “hunger crisis” from developing, acknowledging there is international pressure from Israel’s allies on the issue.
But, speaking in the Commons ahead of Mr Lammy, the prime minister said this is “totally and utterly inadequate”.
MPs from across the House shouted “genocide” as the foreign secretary 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.”
It comes after The Independent called on Keir Starmer to “find his voice” and urge Donald Trump and all world leaders to call on Benjamin Netanyahu to end the aid blockade
The measures announced on Tuesday, including financial restrictions and travel bans, cover prominent settler leader Daniella Weiss and two other individuals, as well as two illegal outposts and two organisations that the Foreign Office said supported, incited and promoted violence against Palestinian communities.
Daniella Weiss, a target of the sanctions who the government described as a “high-profile extremist settler leader”, was a key focus of the recent Louis Theroux BBC documentary Settlers, which shone a light on the tactics of Israeli settlers in the Palestinian West Bank.
“I have seen for myself the consequences of settler violence. The fear of its victims. The impunity of its perpetrators”, Mr Lammy told the Commons.
“The sanctioning of Daniella Weiss and others today demonstrates our determination to hold extremist settlers to account as Palestinian communities suffer violence and intimidation at the hands of extremist settlers.”
He also said the UK has suspended negotiations with the Israeli government on a new free trade agreement, condemning the Israeli’s government’s “egregious actions and rhetoric”.
“They are isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the State of Israel in the eyes of the world”, he said.
“I find this deeply painful as a lifelong friend of Israel and a believer in the values that were expressed in its declaration of independence.”
The foreign secretary warned the UK “cannot stand by in the face of this new deterioration”, adding: “It is incompatible with the principles that underpin our bilateral relationship, rejected by members across this House and, frankly, it’s an affront to the values of the British people.”
After he announced the suspension of trade talks with Israel, Mr Lammy said he wants “strong friendship” based on “shared values” with the Israeli people.
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