Great Britain, France and Germany urged the end of the “humanitarian disaster” in Gaza on Friday while the United Nations food agency warned nearly a third of people in the Palestinian territory ravaged by the war did not eat for days.
Alarm went to the deepening crisis in Gaza, with aid groups saying that “mass famine” spreads after more than 21 months of conflict.
In a joint declaration, the leaders of the three European powers urged Israel “to immediately raise the restrictions on the aid flow and to allow urgently to the UN” and the NGOs to “take measures against famine”.
“The most basic needs of the civilian population, including access to water and food, must be satisfied without further delay,” they said.
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“The restraint of humanitarian aid essential to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.”
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani added his voice to criticism, saying that his country could not accept “carnage and famine” in Gaza.
The concern is developing in particular about the rise in the number of children in malnutrition. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) claim that a quarter of young children and pregnant or breastfed mothers that he had projected in his clinics last week was misunderstood.
Warning that the crisis had reached “new and amazing despair levels”, the United Nations food agency said: “almost one in three people do not eat for days.”
“Malnutrition increases with 90,000 women and children with an urgent treatment for treatment,” said the global food program based in Rome.
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“Food aid is the only way for people to access all foods because food prices are through the roof … People die from the lack of humanitarian aid.”
Israel rejected the accusations, he is responsible for deepening the crisis in Gaza, which the World Health Organization called “artificial”.
Israel has placed the Gaza strip under a help block in March, which it was partially partially two months later while putting the key of the Mand’s long -standing distribution system.
In their joint declaration, Germany, France and Great Britain also stressed that “the time has come to end the war in Gaza.
“We urge all the parties to end the conflict by reaching an immediate ceasefire.”
Friday, in a separate declaration, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reported that London would not imminently recognize a Palestinian state, after French president Emmanuel Macron said earlier that his country intended to do so in September.
Starmer said that it was “unequivocally” that Great Britain should possibly recognize a Palestinian state, but that this step “must be part of a wider plan which results in a two-state solution”.
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However, he faces increasing pressure, with more than 220 British deputies, including dozens of the Labor Party in power, demanding that his government officially recognize a Palestinian state.
The position of Great Britain is similar to that of Germany, which declared that it considered the recognition of a Palestinian state as “one of the last stages on the path of the realization of a solution to two states”.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas sparked the conflict with its attack on October 7, 2023 in Israel.
The attack on Hamas resulted in the death of 1,219 people, most civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
The Israeli military campaign in Gaza has so far killed 59,676 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to the Ministry of Health in the territory managed by Hamas.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still detained in Gaza, including 27, the Israeli soldiers said they died.
