This came in a joint statement issued Monday by the foreign ministers of 25 countries, including Britain, France, and Canada, as well as the European Commissioner for Equality and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, regarding the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The statement called for an end to the Israeli war on Gaza, noting that the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new dimensions. It added that "the aid model pursued by the Israeli government is dangerous, exacerbates instability, and deprives the people of Gaza of their human dignity."
The statement continued: "We condemn the policy of diverting aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, who are seeking to meet their basic needs of water and food."
Describing the deaths of more than 800 Palestinians while trying to obtain aid as "horrific," the statement emphasized that "it is unacceptable for the Israeli government to prevent civilians from receiving essential humanitarian assistance." The statement called on Israel to fulfill its obligations under international humanitarian law.
The statement also called for the immediate and unconditional release of Israeli prisoners, and emphasized that a negotiated ceasefire is the best hope for the prisoners' return to their homes and an end to their families' suffering.
He added, "We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and urgently allow the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to carry out their life-saving work safely and effectively." He called on all parties to protect civilians and fulfill their obligations under international humanitarian law.
The statement expressed its rejection of proposals to transfer Palestinian residents to a "humanitarian aid city," stressing that permanent forced displacement constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law.
In contrast, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson told reporters on Monday that Tel Aviv "rejects the joint statement issued by a group of countries, claiming it is "detached from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas."
On Sunday, the government media office in Gaza announced that the number of Palestinian victims attempting to access food at "American-Israeli aid" centers had risen to "995 martyrs, 6,011 wounded, and 45 missing" since May 27.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Sunday that Israel's starvation policy had killed 86 Palestinians, including 76 children, due to malnutrition. The government media office in Gaza warned on the same day that the Strip was on the verge of "mass death," after more than 140 days of border closures.
Since March 2, Israel has evaded continuing to implement a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas, closing Gaza's crossings to aid trucks stacked along the border.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a war of genocide in Gaza, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
The US-backed genocide left approximately 200,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 9,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that claimed the lives of many.
For 18 years, Israel has been besieging Gaza, leaving approximately 1.5 million Palestinians out of a population of approximately 2.4 million in the Strip homeless after their homes were destroyed by the war of extermination.
