Gaza crisis worsening says Starmer, as minister admits UK response not enough
Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer was heckled by Labour MPs who urged further sanctions against Israel.
Sir Keir Starmer has said the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is “intolerable and getting worse” as a Foreign Office minister admitted the Government has not done enough in response.
After the Prime Minister faced calls during PMQs to recognise a Palestinian state, Hamish Falconer was heckled by Labour MPs who urged further sanctions against Israel.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians.
Israel has obliterated vast swathes of Gaza’s urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and previously a foreign affairs specialist to three UK prime ministers, has condemned Israel for “deliberately and unashamedly” imposing inhumane conditions on Palestinians – including the risk of famine.
During PMQs Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey urged Sir Keir to “pick up the phone to President (Donald) Trump for a joint plan to recognise Palestine and get food, water and medicine into Gaza”.
Sir Keir replied that “the situation in Gaza is simply intolerable and getting worse”.
The Prime Minister added: “We are working with other leaders urgently to bring about rapid and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza which is desperately needed.”
He further stated: “I still fundamentally believe that however remote it may seem at the moment, the pathway to a two-state solution is the only way for settled and lasting peace in the Middle East, and we will continue with our allies to pursue that path.”
Later, during an urgent question on the UK’s assessment as to whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, Mr Falconer said the Government has not done “enough” in the crisis.
Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth Brian Leishman said there is “no need for any organisation to tell the public that what is happening is genocide”, adding that the “Government will be remembered as complicit in and accomplices to the war crimes being committed by Israel”.
Mr Falconer replied: “We took a series of steps. We took them quickly and we took them decisively.
“I do not say to (Mr Leishman) that what we have done is enough. Nobody could hear this discussion and think it is enough.
“Nobody could be listening to the UN Security Council yesterday afternoon, and think it is enough, but it is different to say there is more to be done than it is to say that nothing has been done.”
Mr Falconer was heckled by one of his party’s backbenchers, Rachael Maskell (York Central) who shouted “you’re the minister”, as he responded to Labour MP Warinder Juss’s (Wolverhampton West) question about MPs feeling they were saying the same things “over and over again” with little changing.
Mr Falconer said: “I am the minister; these responsibilities weigh particularly heavily on me. I am not blind, not blind to the IPC, not blind to Tom Fletcher’s testimony, at a session we called.
“Do the honourable members think I am unaware of the horrors that are being meted out on the people in Gaza? I am not unaware.”
Labour MPs shouted “or what” as the minister said the UK is calling on the Israeli government to “stop and change course immediately” and that the denial of aid is “indefensible”.
Mr Falconer said humanitarian aid “must never be used as a political tool or military tactic”.
Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay raised concerns over the risk of famine in Gaza, adding: “There’s one primary cause – Israel’s aid blockade since March 2.”
In July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion that ruled Israel should pay reparations to the Palestinian people, Israel’s policies violate the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the creation of Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
South Africa has submitted four requests for the ICJ to investigate Israel for genocide and the court has already found that there is a “real and imminent risk” to the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israel’s military operations.
Mr Falconer told MPs that the Government supports the ICJ and its independence.
He said: “It is the UK Government’s long standing position that any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent court and not for governments or non-judicial bodies.
“The UK is fully committed to upholding our responsibilities under domestic and international law, and we have at all times, acted in a manner consistent with our legal obligations, including under the Genocide Convention.”
In May 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defence minister Yoav Gallant.
