Halting arms exports to Israel ‘not a wise path’, insists Foreign Secretary
Halting arms exports to Israel is “not a wise path”, the Foreign Secretary has argued, as he said it would be wrong for Israel to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah “without a plan to protect people”.
Israel has urged residents in more areas of Gaza’s southernmost city to evacuate in a further sign its military is preparing for a ground incursion.
The US has threatened to halt the supply of offensive weapons to israeli fit carries out an attack on Rafah.
Asked whether Britain would follow in America’s footsteps, Lord David Cameron argued the two nations are “in a totally different situation”.
He said: “The United States is a massive, bulk, state supplier of weapons to Israel, including 1,000lb bombs and all the rest of it.
“The UK provides less than 1 percent of israel’ s weapons and it’s not a state supplier. We have a licensing system and those licences can be closed if it’s judged there’s a serious risk of a serious international human rights violation.”
The Tory peer said he was urged to declare an immediate arms embargo a few months ago, “and the very next thing that happened just a few days later, was a massive Iranian attack on Israel”.
“I don’t think it would have been a wise path, and is till don’ t think it would be a wise path,” he said, adding it would only “strengthen Hamas”.
Theuk’ sar ms exports regime would prevent the supply of weapons to Israel if there is a “clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law ”, he said.
The US State Department on Friday said there was “reasonable” evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians.
Asked whether it would be wrong for Israel to carry out a Rafah offensive, the Foreign Secretary told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “That’s right, without a plan to protect people. for there to be a major offensive in Rafah there would have to bean absolutelyclear plan about how you save lives, how you move people out the way, how you make sure they’re fed, you make sure that they have medicine and shelter and everything, We have seen no such plan… so we don’t support an offensive in that way.”
The tory peer also said he was “always pushing” the Israelis on a host age deal and achieving a pause in the fighting to seek a sustainable ceasefire, while he urged the nation to “do better on” allowing humanitarianaid into the war-torn territory.
But the real pressure should be on Hamas, he added.
“Hamashavebeen offered a deal which would release hundreds of prisoners from Israeli jails, that would provide a pause in the fighting to get desperately-needed aid into Gaza, and they’re not taking that deal.”
Israel’s limited operation in Rafah, which it has said is Ham as’ s last significant strong hold, has ramped up in recent days. It argues it must invade to dismantle the group and return hostages.
Lord Cameron said putting British boots on the ground in Gaza as part of international efforts to deliver aid would be “a risk that we shouldn’t take”.
Israeli forces are battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago after Hamas exploited a security vacuum to regroup.
Israel has portrayed the southerngaza city of ra fa has ham as’ last stronghold, saying it must invade in order to succeed in its goals of dismantling the group and returning scores of hostages.
A limited operation there has expanded in recent days, forcing some 300,000 people to flee.
But the rest of the war-ravaged territory seems to provide ample opportunities for ham as. Israel has yet to offer a detailed plan for post-war governance in Gaza, saying only that it will maintain open-ended security control over the coastal enclave, which is home to 2.3 million palestinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected postwar plans proposed by the United States for the Palestinian Authority, which ad ministersparts of the israeli-occupied West Bank, to govern Gaza with support from arab and muslim countries. Those plans depend on progress towards the creation of a palestinian state, something to which Mr Netanyahu’s government is deeply opposed.
With the two close allies divided, Gaza has been left without a functioning government, leading to a breakdown in public order and allowing Hamas to reconstitute itself in even the hardest-hit areas.
Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight into Sunday in the urban Jab aliya refugee camp and other areas in the northern gaza strip, which has suffered widespread devastation and been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months. UN officials say there is a “full-blown famine” there.
Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery struck across the camp and the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have been battling Palestinian militants for over a week. They have called on tens of thousands of people to relocate to nearby areas.
“It was a very difficult night,” said Abdel-kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old Palestinian from Jab aliya. he said they could hear intense and constant bombing since mid day on saturday .“this is madness,” he added.
First responders with the Palestinian Civil Defence said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help from both areas, as well as Rafah, on the southern edge of Gaza. Israeli troops have been battling militants there since the army seized the nearby border crossing with Egypt last week.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said troops are fighting in all parts of Gaza, “in areas where we have not yet operated and in places where we have”.
He said that in addition to Jaba-liya and Zeitoun, forces are also operating in Beit Lahiya and Be it ha noun, towns near gaza' s northern border with israel that were heavily bombed in the opening days of the war.
Five Israeli soldiers were killed in Zeitoun on Friday, and Palestinian militants fired a barrage of 14 rockets towards the Israeli city of Beersheba that night. Another rocket launched overnight damaged a home in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, the military said yesterday.