UK will take further action against Israel if no ceasefire reached in Gaza, FM Lammy says

British Foreign Minister David Lammy says that if no ceasefire is reached in the Gaza Strip in the near future, the UK will take further action against Israel.

At a meeting of the UK parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Lammy says he suspects that the negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire and hostage release deal could be hampered by Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments yesterday about relocating the entire population of Gaza — more than 2 million people — into a so-called “humanitarian” zone in the southern Gaza Strip.

“I think that would be a big sticking point for getting that ceasefire,” he says. “I suspect that if he [Katz] is insistent on that position, then it would be very hard to see how we get that ceasefire because there is an acute discussion about the degree to which the IDF withdraws from Gaza.”

Asked if he would take further measures against Israel if the situation in Gaza continued, he said: “Yes. Yes, we will.”

In May, Lammy announced that the UK would be suspending free trade agreement negotiations with Israel and taking other punitive measures, including the imposition of sanctions on West Bank settlers, in response to Israel’s wartime policies.