'Too Little, Too Late': MPs Attack Government For Slow Response To Gaza Crisis

The UK’s actions over the Israel-Palestine conflict in recent years have been slammed as “too little, too late” by backbench MPs.

The Foreign Affairs Committee, a cross-party group made up of 11 MPs, will be releasing a new report today on the ongoing crisis in the Middle East – and tearing into the government for not doing enough.

The committee, chaired by Labour MP Emily Thornberry who used to sit in Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet, called on the UK to focus on its relationship with the US in a bid to get Israel to change tact.

It comes as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza just reached new heights after more than 21 months of war, with an estimated 900,000 children in the territory going hungry right now.

The Foreign Affairs Committee all agreed the Israeli government is “not listening to the UK, nor its friends and allies” – aside from the US.

So they are calling on the UK to use its strong relationship with the White House to indirectly influence the war.

The MPs are calling for Israel to open all crossing points into Gaza without restriction to food, medical, shelter materials and other aid, too.

The committee suggested dismantling Israel’s Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has courted controversy since it was established to distribute food around the territory.

The MPs advised Britain support a medical evacuation of critically injured children to the UK, too.

The UK should also act “more boldly and bravely” in imposing sanctions against illegal outposts and violent Israeli settlers, the committee suggested.

The MPs also want the government to explain how the indirect exports of certain weapon components – then used by Israel – are still in line with International Humanitarian law.

In the report – complete with evidence collated over nine months – committee member John Whittingdale said: “The only issue on which we did not agree was on whether recognition of a Palestinian state now would help to bring that about.”

Committee chair Thornberry called on the government to do “all in its power” to secure a ceasefire, return the hostages and get humanitarian aid to Gaza.

She also called for the government to extend sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

She said Brits want their government to “play its part in bringing about peace and justice”.

“There is undoubtedly huge frustration among many of the British public that the Government has consistently acted too little, too late. And there is huge frustration that the far-right government currently in charge in Israel is refusing to listen to its historic friends and allies,” she said.

“But we must not shrug our shoulders in despair and say that there is nothing we can do.

“This report puts forward practical suggestions for how the British Government can make a real difference. ”

She called for Britain to acknowledge that its greatest strength comes in alliances – whether persuading the US to pressure Israel to push for a ceasefire or “with nations in the region whose support will be vital to a long-term two-state solution”.

Thornberry added that the committee want the UK to immediately recognise the state of Palestine.

Pointing to the UK’s past with the Middle East and “peacebuilding in Northern Ireland” – “another conflict that everybody said was too difficult to solve until it was done – she said Britain was in a “unique position to do all we can to bring about peace”.