Israel must open ports to allow urgent aid to travel to Gaza, Lord Cameron urges, as UN says 250,000 are starving
12 March 2024, 20:49
Israel must open its ports and grant more visas to UN workers so urgent humanitarian aid can be distributed throughout Gaza, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has urged.
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Speaking in Parliament, the former Conservative prime minister said the sharing of vital humanitarian assistance within the wartorn enclave as "one of the trickiest pieces of the jigsaw".
He said Israel must open one of its ports so emergency supplies arriving by sea can get through to the besieged territory, five months after Israel initiated retaliatory strikes on Gaza following Hamas' October 7 attacks.
More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began and has driven some 80 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million people from their homes. The UN says a quarter of the population is starving.
Hamas' surprise onslaught that sparked the conflict killed around 1,200 people and a further 250 people were taken hostage.
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Responding to a question at Westminster on aid to Gaza, Lord Cameron said: "We have been collaborating with Jordan on humanitarian airdrops and are now working with partners to operationalise a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus.
"However, this cannot substitute delivery by land, which remains the best way to get aid in at the scale needed.
"Israel must open more land routes, including in the north, for longer and with fewer screening requirements."
He contiued: "I have been clear. We need an immediate humanitarian pause to increase aid into Gaza and get the hostages out. Israel must remove restrictions on aid and restore electricity, water and telecommunications."
Lord Cameron said if "Israel really wanted to help", they should open the fully functioning Ashdod port that would allow aid to enter through into Gaza.
On the distribution of aid in Gaza, he said: "This is one of the trickiest pieces of the jigsaw. One of the things Israel needs to do is give out more visas to UN workers, who are capable of distributing the aid when it arrives into Gaza."
"Getting more aid into Gaza requires the work of more than just Israel taking the relevant steps, but Israel is the country that could, I think, make the greatest difference because some of the blockages and the screening problems and all the rest of it are their responsibility."
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It comes after the head of the UK's foreign affairs committee said Israel was blocking aid getting into Gaza, amid a "grave" humanitarian crisis in the territory.
Alicia Kearns, who has recently returned from Gaza, said that Israel could open more crossings into the territory to let more aid through.
The US announced a new pier in the Mediterranean to help get aid directly into Gaza, which the UK said on Friday that it would join.
Ms Kearns warned that children were drinking from puddles and people were living on animal feed.
Reports have emerged that 20 people have died of hunger and malnutrition so far, most of whom were children.
