Britain suspends trade negotiations with Israel over Gaza aid blockade

LONDON -- British Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced on Tuesday that Britain has suspended trade negotiations with Israel over its Gaza blockade. Lammy also said the Israeli ambassador had been summoned.

Lammy said in a statement in the House of Commons, lower house of the British parliament, that Israel's blockade of Gaza is "morally wrong, unjustifiable, and it needs to stop".

Lammy said he thinks all lawmakers "should be able to utterly condemn the Israeli government's denial of food to hungry children".

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also condemned the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza on Tuesday, describing the ongoing civilian suffering as "utterly intolerable", and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Addressing the parliament, Starmer said, "The level of suffering, innocent children being bombed again, is utterly intolerable," and went on to say Britain and their French and Canadian allies are "horrified by the escalation from Israel". He said an "immediate ceasefire" remains "the only way to free the hostages".

He also reaffirmed Britain's opposition to Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and called for a dramatic scale-up in humanitarian aid to Gaza.

"The recent announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza is totally and utterly inadequate," Starmer said. "We must coordinate our response, because this war has gone on for far too long. We cannot allow the people of Gaza to starve."

Britain, France and Canada said on Monday in a joint statement that "if Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid," they will take further concrete actions.

Israel halted the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza on March 2, following the expiration of the first phase of a January ceasefire agreement with Hamas. It resumed attacks on Gaza on March 18, which have so far killed more than 3,300 people and injured over 9,350, according to the Gaza-based health authorities.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would allow the entry of a "minimal and basic" quantity of aid into Gaza to prevent "images of mass starvation". Later, five UN aid trucks entered Gaza through Israel's Kerem Shalom border crossing on Monday after undergoing security inspections.