27 Countries Urge Israel to Allow Aid into Gaza Amid “Unimaginable” Crisis
Twenty-seven countries—including the UK, France, Canada, Australia, and Japan—have called on Israel to permit the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, describing the humanitarian situation there as having reached “unimaginable levels.”
Twitter
More than 20 countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Japan, issued a joint statement Tuesday urging Israel to allow the establishment of a “safe and permanent humanitarian corridor” into Gaza and grant full access to all international aid organizations, including UN agencies.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached unbearable levels. Severe hunger is unfolding before our eyes,” the statement declared, calling for Israel to “act immediately” to ease conditions in the Strip. The foreign ministers demanded that Israel authorize international organizations to deliver and transport aid without disruption, and to refrain from “deadly and life-threatening actions” at aid distribution sites.
Signatories included Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
The appeal comes as several of the same countries move toward recognizing a Palestinian state. On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced his country would formally vote to recognize a Palestinian state at next month’s UN General Assembly session in New York, declaring, “There can be no future for Hamas in a Palestinian state.” New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his country is considering the same step.
In recent weeks, Portugal and Canada have also announced plans to support Palestinian state recognition, while German Foreign Minister Johann Waddpfuhl said the process toward such recognition “must begin.”
The UN conference on the issue last month saw 15 Western foreign ministers sign a pledge to “positively consider” recognition of a Palestinian state as “a vital step toward a two-state solution.”
Israel has consistently argued that premature recognition of a Palestinian state rewards Hamas’s October 7 massacre and undermines the prospects for genuine peace by ignoring Palestinian Authority corruption and the ongoing threat from Gaza-based terror groups.