Yousaf: ‘Israeli action has gone way beyond a legitimate response’
◆ Proposals are not official government policy ◆ Calls for regional involvement in Gaza’s future ◆ Fears that war could spill across borders
Humza Yousaf says Israel’s military action in Gaza has gone “way beyond a legitimate response” as he said the UK government must now call for an immediate ceasefire.
The First Minister, who has consistently called for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, said those responsible for killing civilians must be held accountable.
He said the UK government must now use its position as a trusted ally of the Israeli government to demand an end to “indiscriminate attacks”.
Mr Yousaf also said in an interview that he was unsure if his wife Nadia’s family, who live in Gaza, are alive or not.
The First Minister said: “The time has come for the UK government to speak out forcefully and make it clear that Israeli action has gone way beyond a legitimate response to the appalling Hamas attack of 7 October.
“Hearing comments from an Israeli government minister urging displacement of Palestinians from Gaza is deeply disturbing and should be universally condemned. Gaza is Occupied Palestinian Territory and will be part of a future Palestinian state – Gazans should not be subject to forcible displacement or relocation from Gaza.”
The UN said up to 1.9 million people have been displaced in Gaza in the ten weeks since the war started, and are now moving into progressively smaller pockets of the Strip.
Around 40 per cent of the Gaza population is now at risk of famine due to “catastrophic hunger”, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees.
Mr Yousaf said the UK government’s refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire in the region was “shameful”. He said it must now use its influence as an Israeli ally to step up calls to end the war.
The UK government has previously voiced its support for a sustained ceasefire, but has stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Mr Yousaf said: “The UK government must make clear that prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, Israeli ministers and military commanders will be held accountable for the killing of thousands of innocent civilians and the deaths of tens of thousands more from starvation and disease if Israel does not immediately cease indiscriminate attacks and allow aid to enter Gaza on the scale needed to avert a humanitarian disaster.
“Hamas leaders must also be held accountable for the appalling attacks against Israeli civilians on 7 October. Talk of a ‘sustainable ceasefire’ from the UK government has made no difference on the ground, as the situation has worsened for the people of Gaza.
“The UK government must use its voice and influence to stop the killing; directly with the Israeli government, and indirectly with the US.” The First Minister’s comments come as US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken makes his fourth visit to the region since the war began, and as the European Union’s top foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visits Lebanon to discuss the situation on the Israeli-lebanon border and the importance of avoiding regional escalation.
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant has said his country’s forces would shift to a scaleddown “new combat approach” in northern Gaza in the next phase of the conflict.
He said forces would continue to fight Hamas in the south of the territory “for as long as necessary”.
Mr Gallant also outlined a proposal for how Gaza would be run once Hamas is defeated, with Israel keeping security control while an undefined, Israeli-guided Palestinian body runs day-to-day administration.
He said the US and other countries would oversee rebuilding in a document entitled a “Vision for Phase 3” of the war.
His office said the phase had not yet begun, and the ideas were Mr Gallant’s and not official policy, which would have to be set by Israel’s war and security cabinets, both of which Mr Gallant is a member of.
His plans were issued ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit for talks in Israel and other countries in the region this weekend.
The US has pressed Israel to shift to lower-intensity military operations in Gaza that more precisely target Hamas after nearly three devastating months of bombardment and ground assaults.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 22,400 people, more than two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Mr Gallant’s statement underlined that the war would go on until Hamas was eliminated and the more than 100 hostages still in captivity returned. Around 250 people were taken from Israel during the October 7 attack by Hamas.
In the north of Gaza, the statement said, Israeli forces will shift to a new approach that includes raids, destruction of tunnels, “air and ground activities and special operations”. The aim would be “the erosion” of the remaining Hamas presence.
There was no word whether the population of northern Gaza, which has almost entirely been driven south, would be allowed to return.
The statement said after the war, Israel will keep security control, taking military action in Gaza when necessary to ensure there are no threats, and maintaining inspections of all goods entering the territory.
Mr Gallant said there would be no Israeli civilians in Gaza, ruling out calls by some in Israel’s far-right for a return of Jewish settlers to the territory.
Palestinian entities – apparently local civil servants or communal leaders – would run the territory day to day, with Israel providing “information to guide civilian operations,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, an apparent Israeli strike that killed a top Hamas leader in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, has stirred fresh fears the conflict could expand into other parts of the Middle East – a prospect likely to be high on Mr Blinken’s agenda. The killing of Saleh Arouri prompted warnings of retaliation from Hamas’ ally, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. But there was no immediate escalation in the cross-border daily exchanges of rocket fire and shells between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.
Regional tensions also climbed after a US air strike killed an Iranian-backed militia leader in Iraq, and as Yemen’s Houthi rebels continued attacks on ships in key Red Sea shipping lanes.
Israel has stepped up warnings of tougher military action against Hezbollah unless it pulls its fighters out of the border region, as called for under a Un-brokered 2006 ceasefire. Israel says that is the only way tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from communities in the north can return.
Mr Gallant said that there was a “short window of time” for diplomacy with Hezbollah. But he said Israel was determined to bring about “a new reality in the northern arena, which will enable the secure return of our citizens”.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer said Israel alone should not be allowed to decide what happens to Gaza once its war with Hamas is over.
The Labour leader called for international involvement, including from neighbouring Arab countries, in the future of Gaza, and said Israeli occupation of the Strip should not be the answer.
He also called for a “humanitarian truce” in the fighting, following reports that Israel has spelled out its vision for the future of Gaza.
Sir Keir said: “We cannot have Israeli occupation. We cannot have people displaced who cannot go back to where they came [from], because two million have been displaced in the last four months, that is intolerable.”
He added: “I don’t think, frankly, it is for Israel to determine what happens in Gaza. There has got to be much more international agreement on this, otherwise it simply isn’t going to work.”
The Labour leader mentioned regional rulers in Qatar and Jordan as among those who should be involved in negotiating a peace solution.
Sir Keir also reiterated calls for an end to the fighting, pointing to humanitarian pauses in the conflict which have previously helped aid get into Gaza as the basis for future peace efforts.
He said: “At the moment what we are seeing is a horror that has gone on for the last few months, far too many civilians being killed in Gaza, far too many people displaced, and not enough aid going in.
“We all want to get to a ceasefire. So the question is: how do we get there? I think we need a humanitarian truce.”