The UK has suspended talks on a trade deal with Israel, summoned the country’s ambassador and imposed fresh sanctions on West Bank settlers, as Foreign Secretary David Lammy called the military escalation in Gaza “morally unjustifiable”.
The move follows warnings of starvation in Gaza after Israel launched a new military operation over the weekend.
There were fiery exchanges in Parliament with Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel, who suggested the actions would be welcomed by Hamas, but also angry calls for the government to go further.
In response, Israel’s foreign spokesman said external pressure would “not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence”.
Global experts have warned of a looming famine because the Israeli government has blockaded supplies of food, fuel and medicine to Gaza for the last 11 weeks.
Officials say the sheer scale of the humanitarian crisis after two months of blockade played a part in the latest announcements, as did growing pressure from MPs and the public.
Ministers were also responding to the lack of any clear path towards a ceasefire and a sense of frustration from the White House, with President Donald Trump sidestepping the country on his Middle East tour last week and Vice-President JD Vance postponing a trip there this week.
The Israeli government has already been warned it must end its “egregious” military expansion and “immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza” in a joint statement from the leaders of the UK, Canada and France on Monday.
Israel said it had allowed five lorries carrying humanitarian aid into the territory but the UN’s humanitarian chief said this was a “drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed”.
Later on Tuesday, the UN confirmed that, although permission had now been given to send about 100 aid trucks into Gaza, no aid had yet been distributed.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the current situation “intolerable”, saying “humanitarian aid needs to get in at pace”.
In the House of Commons, there were shouts of “shame” from MPs as Lammy set out how an Israeli minister had said their latest operations would be “cleansing Gaza”, “destroying what’s left” and relocating Palestinians “to third countries”.
“We must call this what it is,” he told MPs. “It is extremism, it is dangerous, it is repellent, it is monstrous, and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Lammy said Israel had suffered “a heinous attack” on 7 October 2023 and the UK had always backed the country’s right to defend itself.
However, the foreign secretary said the Israeli government had set out on a “morally unjustifiable” and “utterly counterproductive” path that would not bring hostages safely home.
Instead, he accused the government led by Benjamin Netanyahu of “isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world”, as he announced negotiations on a free trade deal had been suspended.
The Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, told Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely that the UK would not “stand by” as Israel increased military operations in Gaza.
“Today I summoned Israel’s ambassador to the FCDO,” Falconer said in a post on X.
“I made clear the UK’s opposition to expanded military operations in Gaza and rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.”
“The UK will not stand by as this happens,” he added.
Condemning settler violence, Lammy also set out sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, against three individuals and four companies who were “carrying out heinous abuses of human rights”.
Dame Priti said: “Strong words will do little to resolve the real challenges that are taking place and the suffering we are seeing taking place day in, day out.”
She added that it “should be the cause of concern” that the UK government’s actions had been “supported by Hamas, a terrorist organisation”.
Following the statement there were calls for the foreign secretary to go further, including from Labour backbenchers, who raised the possibility of a breach of international law.
Abtisam Mohamed, the Labour MP for Sheffield Central, said Netanyahu had made an “explicit admission that Israeli officials intend to carry out ethnic cleansing”.
Lammy said the suspension of some arms sales to Israel had ensured “none of us are complicit in any acts that breach international humanitarian law” but he had announced further measures because the war was still continuing.
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting, said the “weaponisation of food” was “morally reprehensible” and called for an arms embargo to be imposed, as well as sanctions on Israeli officials.
Lammy gave an “absolute commitment” that the UK government would take further action “if needed over the coming days and weeks”.
He also responded to calls to officially recognise the state of Palestine by confirming he was “in close dialogue” with both France and Saudi Arabia about recognition.
Diplomats told the BBC they would still prefer to use recognition of Palestine as a spur to further action, perhaps as part of a wider peace settlement, rather than a symbolic expression of anger against Israel and support for Palestinians.
Israeli foreign spokesman Oren Marmorstein responded defiantly to Lammy’s statement on X, saying the decisions on sanctions were “unjustified”.
“External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction,” he said.
Marmorstein also suggested the UK government had not been advancing negotiations on a trade deal “at all” before the announcement in the Commons.
“If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy – that is its own prerogative,” he added.
Meanwhile, the EU – Israel’s biggest trading partner – is to review its trade agreement with the country in light of its actions in Gaza.
