David Lammy has joined the foreign ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand in condemning Israel’s plan to launch a new offensive in Gaza.
In a joint statement, the five ministers warned that a large-scale assault on the territory would “aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians”.
It comes after Israel’s security cabinet approved a new five-point plan “for defeating Hamas” and “concluding the war” in Gaza on Friday.
“The plans that the Government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law,” the ministers said.
Any attempt to annex territory in Gaza or build settlements there would also violate international law, the statement added.
Palestinians gather with pots and pans as a charity distributes meals in western Gaza City (Photo: Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty)Under the plan, Israel’s five objectives are disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarising the Gaza Strip, taking security control of the territory, and establishing “an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority”.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) already controls about three-quarters of Gaza, 86.3 per cent of which is either under militarised zones or subject to displacement orders, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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Much of the territory’s two million residents now live in refugee camps in central Gaza and along the Mediterranean coast.
The office for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli forces will “prepare for taking control” of Gaza City, while providing humanitarian aid to the “civilian population outside the combat zones”.
Around 800,0000 civilians remain in the northern city, which has been largely destroyed by airstrikes since the start of the war in October 2023.
According to reports in Israeli media, the residents would be evacuated further south, with forces also taking control of refugee camps in central Gaza and areas where hostages are thought to be held.
About 50 hostages remain in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
A second offensive would follow weeks later, according to reports.
The foreign ministers also called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as “the worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding”.
Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored his own military chief’s advice to announce an expanded offensive in Gaza (Photo: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)UN agencies have warned that there is mass starvation in the Strip, caused by heavy restrictions by Israel on what is allowed in to the territory.
July was the worst month for cases of acute malnutrition in children in Gaza, affecting nearly 12,000 under the age of five, according to the World Health Organisation.
On Friday, Sir Keir Starmer described plans for a new offensive as “wrong” and called for a “surge in humanitarian aid” into the region.
It prompted the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to suggest that Britain would have lost the Second World War had Starmer been in No 10 at the time.
He wrote: “So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas and feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (Photo: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)“Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn’t food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German.”
Starmer has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government meets a series of conditions towards ending the war in Gaza.
US Vice President JD Vance, who is currently visiting the UK on holiday, met with Lammy at his grace-and-favour country home in Kent on Friday.
In a televised meeting, Vance said the two countries had a “disagreement” about how to achieve “common objectives” in the Middle East.
Donald Trump’s administration had “no plans to recognise a Palestinian state”, he added.
France and Canada have also criticised the plan for a full occupation of Gaza, with Germany deciding to stop selling arms to Israel in response.
More than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched a widespread military assault on Gaza 22 months ago, in response to the Hamas October 7 attack.
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