UK Urges Israel to Expand Aid Access to Gaza
DUBAI- Britain has warned that food insecurity in Gaza remains at crisis levels and called on Israel to ease restrictions on humanitarian assistance, citing a new U.N.-backed assessment that conditions in the territory are expected to deteriorate further.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the latest report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) showed that Gaza continued to face acute food insecurity, with humanitarian conditions remaining critical.
The FCDO said it was “completely unacceptable” that about 1.2 million people were experiencing severe food shortages while roughly 90% of Gaza’s population was confined to less than 30% of the territory.
The British government said preventing famine should not be regarded as the standard for success, warning that restrictions on humanitarian aid, combined with repeated displacement, were contributing to worsening disease outbreaks, water shortages and the collapse of health services.
The statement called on Israel to end restrictions on humanitarian support and allow aid and commercial goods to enter Gaza at the scale required to meet civilian needs.
Britain also reiterated that humanitarian assistance “must never be used as a political tool” and said it would continue supporting humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza while pressing Israel to facilitate greater access for relief supplies.
The IPC, an internationally recognized system used to assess food insecurity, has repeatedly warned that large parts of Gaza face severe hunger and that sustained humanitarian access is essential to prevent further deterioration in the humanitarian situation.
The latest British statement follows the IPC’s warning that conditions across Gaza are expected to worsen unless humanitarian assistance is significantly expanded.
