British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Sunday urged Israel to follow international humanitarian law following an Israeli attack on an aid convoy that resulted in the deaths of seven people, three of them British.
The Israeli military had previously admitted guilt over an airstrike on a convoy of food aid workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK) on Monday.
Cameron said in an article for the Sunday Times that Israel has “a right to self-defence that we should support,” but Britain will not unconditionally support Israel in its war against Hamas. Despite, he said:
Of course our backing is not unconditional: we expect such a proud and successful democracy to abide by international humanitarian law, even when challenged in this way.
David Cameron’s article was published on the six-month anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage. Israel’s counter-offensive in the Gaza Strip has caused more than 33,000 deaths, mostly women and children. Meanwhile, on the six-month anniversary, talks are to be held in Cairo aimed at a ceasefire; Hamas has already sent a delegation.
In the article, Cameron called on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “allow more aid into Gaza” and detailed plans to bring humanitarian aid from Britain to the Israeli port of Ashdod. He also backed a maritime humanitarian corridor from Cyprus to Gaza, which was opened last month.
British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden also criticised Netanyahu’s government, telling Sky News on Sunday as follows: “Of course, Israel has made mistakes and made big mistakes, and we should hold them to account for that.”
Simultaneously, rallies are taking place in Israel over the Netanyahu government’s failure to provide security for the hostages who were seized on 7 October.
The ministers’ statements followed a week of heated debate in Britain over whether it should stop exporting arms to Israel.
Earlier, for instance, Boris Johnson accused David Cameron in his Daily Mail column of failing to completely reject proposals to halt British arms sales to Israel and of helping Hamas in the process.
On Sunday, the Israeli military reduced its presence in the southern Gaza Strip, withdrawing all but one brigade of ground troops. Yet it is unclear what significance this has for Israeli plans for a ground operation in Rafah to defeat Hamas, a prospect about which the US has expressed concern.
