Britain sanctions Israel over Gaza and ceases trade talks

Britain has issued fresh sanctions against Israel over its "morally unjustifiable" escalation of violence in Gaza, and demanded an end to its “cruel and indefensible” 11-week block on humanitarian aid.

- MILLIE COOKE , DAVID MADDOX , ARCHIE MITCHELL , BEL TREW

Foreign secretary David Lammy condemned the “monstrous” situation as the UN warned that 14,000 Palestinian babies could die by tomorrow unless action is taken to ease the crisis, which has left civilians severely malnourished. He announced the suspension of trade talks with Israel, imposed sanctions on three individuals and four entities involved in the settler movement, and said Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions were “wholly disproportionate” and “utterly counterproductive”.

But during a fractious 90 minutes in the Commons yesterday, MPs from five political parties – Labour, the Tories, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the SNP – said the government should go further and faster, including suspending all arms sales to Israel and sanctioning ministers in the Netanyahu government.

Labour MP Melanie Ward, a parliamentary private secretary, asked Mr Lammy: “What is the red line? Gaza is out of time.”

In Gaza yesterday, witnesses described apocalyptic scenes. Khaled al-Serr, the head of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis – which has been bombed twice in the past week alone, and is one of the last remaining hospitals in the south of the territory – told The Independent he had been forced to interrupt surgery after Israel issued a mandatory evacuation order for the neighbourhood in which his family was taking shelter.

“But we don’t know where to go, there is no safe place,” he said as an Israeli drone whined in the background. “Even the socalled humanitarian area in the western part of Khan Younis – in the past two months, we have continuously received cases from bombings in tents located there.”

Ahmad, a nurse at the hospital, said conditions are “beyond critical”, and that the facility – once a “major lifeline” in the south – is now barely functioning. “Many patients die simply because we cannot treat them in time,” he said. “One of the most painful things to witness today is the suffering of children.