Slaughter must end

TWENTY-EIGHT countries including Ireland, Britain, Japan and a host of European nations issued a joint statement yesterday saying the war in Gaza "must end now".

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It's the latest sign of allies' sharpening language as Israel's isolation deepens.

The foreign ministers of countries also including Australia and Canada said "the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths".

They condemned "the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food".

The statement described as "horrifying" the recent deaths of over 800 Palestinians who were seeking aid, according to the figures released by Gaza's Health Ministry and the UN human rights office.

Israel's Foreign Ministry rejected the statement, saying it was “disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas”.

It accused Hamas of prolonging the war by refusing to accept an Israeli-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire and hostage release.

"Hamas is the sole party responsible for the continuation of the war and the suffering on both sides," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein posted on X.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also rejected the statement from many of America’s closest allies, calling it “disgusting” in a post on X and saying they should instead pressure the “savages of Hamas”.

Germany was also notably absent from the statement.