The UK’s patience is running “thin” with Israel over aid entering Gaza, Lord David Cameron has said, as he is set to warn Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz over the matter today.
The foreign secretary is set to meet Mr Gantz, a former general, after the Israeli had meetings in the White House, which also raised concerns about the aid entering Gaza.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Lord Cameron said the amount of assistance entering Gaza in February was half the amount that entered in January.
He stressed that it is Israel‘s responsibility, as the occupying power, to ensure the delivery of aid.
The UK supported Israel’s military action against Hamas following the 7 October attacks, but has increased its calls for a cessation of the fighting recently – with Downing Street saying it was “aligned” with the US in its stance in calling for a pause in the fighting as soon as possible.
Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages back to Gaza following the attacks in October.
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Lord Cameron said: “We are facing a situation of dreadful suffering in Gaza. There can be no doubt about that.
“I spoke some weeks ago about the danger of this tipping into famine and the danger of illness tipping into disease and we are now at that point. People are dying of hunger. People are dying of otherwise preventable disease.
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“We have been pushing for this aid to get in. We have had a whole set of things we have asked the Israelis to do but I have to report to the House that the amount of aid that got in in February was about half of what got in in January.”
Image: Benny Gantz has been meeting with Israel’s allies. Pic: AP
He added: “So patience needs to run very thin and a whole series of warnings need to be given, starting, I hope, with a meeting I have with minister Gantz when he visits the UK.”
The foreign secretary went on: “Israel is the occupying power, it is responsible and that has consequences, including in how we look at whether Israel is compliant with international humanitarian law.”
Speaking about the future, Lord Cameron said: “Clearly part of a two-state solution is the recognition of Palestine as a state. I don’t think that should happen at the start of the process because I think that takes all the pressure off the Palestinians to reform, but it shouldn’t have to wait until the end.
“I think recognition can become part of the unstoppable momentum we need to see towards a two-state solution.”
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Hamas rejects temporary ceasefire
Mr Gantz met US vice president Kamala Harris earlier in the week.
Ms Harris told Mr Gantz that Israel should have a “credible” humanitarian plan before making further advances in southern Gaza.
She added that there must be “an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks”.
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The latest figures from the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza state that 30,717 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the start of the conflict, with another 72,156 wounded.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has said Israel needs to “maximise every possible means” to get aid into Gaza.
A brother and sister have been jailed for the murder of a drug dealer in a “ferocious” knife attack.
Isaiah Marsh, 21, and his 23-year-old sibling Mya Marsh were sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison for killing Minister Enfrence, 21, in a row over a £200 cannabis debt.
Bank worker Mya was trying to buy drugs from Mr Enfrence in Kings Norton, Birmingham, when she met him armed with a kitchen knife at about 10am on 5 November, the city’s crown court heard.
Judge Simon Drew KC said that Mya was the aggressor in an initial confrontation with Mr Enfrence over the debt as he sentenced the siblings on Thursday.
Mya called her brother Isaiah to the scene, who “launched a ferocious attack on Minister as he lay defenceless on his back on the floor” and had intended to kill, the judge said.
Mr Enfrence suffered at least 12 stab wounds to his body, arms, hands and head in the “unprovoked” attack.
He did not die instantly and managed to escape before collapsing nearby.
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Judge Drew said footage of the attack, which was caught on CCTV, was “truly sickening” to watch as Mr Enfrence died a “traumatic and painful death”.
Image: Minister Enfrence was killed on 5 November. Pic: West Midlands Police
Siblings unanimously convicted of murder
The footage shows Mya passing a knife to her brother during the stabbing.
The judge told them: “This was an attack by two people on one. That attack was unprovoked. Members of the public, including a child in a pushchair, passed very close by while the attack was taking place.”
After the killing, Mya went to work “as if nothing had happened” after taking the morning off work, citing mental health problems, the court was told.
Isaiah later handed himself in to the police.
A jury unanimously convicted the siblings of murder on Monday following a three-week trial.
Both had denied murder and alternative charges of manslaughter.
Isaiah claimed he acted in self-defence, while Mya claimed she did not believe her brother would use the knife to stab Mr Enfrence.
Rachel Brand KC, representing Mya, said the attack was “utterly out of character” for her client and that Mya had shouted “stop it” and “break it up” during her brother and Mr Enfrence’s struggle.
Isaiah, meanwhile, would find it “almost impossible to reconcile what he saw on the CCTV with who he is”, his barrister Michael Ivers KC told the court.
“He has told everyone who will listen when they have spoken to him that he is full of remorse about what happened,” Mr Ivers said.
A “despicable” rapist has been brought to justice and jailed for 10 years in part thanks to a woman’s testimony from beyond the grave.
Steven Connery, 41, repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted two women in the Forth Valley and Tayside areas.
Judge Douglas Brown said Connery’s first victim was left “so shocked that she couldn’t speak” following a painful attack in a bathroom while she was getting ready for a night out.
A court heard how the second woman was also left in “agony” after a sex assault.
Connery was arrested in 2022 after his past crimes were brought to the attention of Police Scotland.
His second victim died before a trial was held at the High Court in Glasgow, but her evidence was read out in the form of a statement by one of the investigating officers.
Connery denied any wrongdoing but was in March found guilty of four charges.
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He returned to the dock on Wednesday and was handed a 13-year extended sentence, with 10 years in jail and three years on licence once released back into the community.
Judge Brown said: “It is almost inevitable that offences of this nature will cause substantial harm and in relation to the second complainer, who has since died, it is clear from a victim impact statement submitted by her sister that your behaviour had a massive impact not only on her but also on her family.”
It was noted that Connery was “still reasonably young” at the time of some of his offending, but the judge added: “Though there is little to indicate that a lack of maturity was a significant factor.”
Connery was additionally placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and banned from contacting the woman who is still alive.
Detective Sergeant Khalid Abdulrahman said: “Although one of Connery’s victims passed away, it was right that her evidence was heard in court through the reading of statements.
“I hope this sentencing brings some comfort to both her family and the other victim in this case.
“Our thoughts remain with them, as without their information Connery wouldn’t have been held accountable for his despicable actions.”