The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has said he had held a “tough but necessary” conversation with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, repeating calls for more humanitarian aid for Gaza and warning him against a fully fledged offensive in Rafah.
Cameron said ensuring the availability of aid in Gaza would be a factor when the UK assesses whether Israel is acting in line with international law.
Gantz, a former defence minister and domestic political rival of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has caused a furore at home by going to both Washington and London independently to speak to their most senior figures about the future of the war. Netanyahu instructed the British embassy to afford him no help or security detail on his visits.
After the meeting, Cameron issued a statement: “Palestinians are facing a devastating and growing humanitarian crisis. In my meeting with Israeli minister Benny Gantz today, we discussed efforts to secure a humanitarian pause to get the hostages safely home and life-saving supplies into Gaza.
“I once again pressed Israel to increase the flow of aid. We are still not seeing improvements on the ground. This must change.”
Cameron spelled out the UK’s call for an immediate humanitarian pause in the fighting, increased capacity for aid distribution within Gaza and greater access for supplies through both land and maritime routes.
He also called for a wider variety of aid items to be allowed into Gaza, including shelters and items essential to repair the infrastructure destroyed during the Israeli military campaign.
Repeating remarks he made in the Lords on Tuesday, he said: “The UK supports Israel’s right to self-defence. But as the occupying power in Gaza, Israel has a legal responsibility to ensure aid is available for civilians.
“That responsibility has consequences, including when we as the UK assess whether Israel is compliant with international humanitarian law.”
He stressed that the UK was “deeply concerned” about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah, the city in southern Gaza close to the border with Egypt that is providing shelter to more than a million people displaced by the violence.
Gantz is described as a centrist in Israeli politics but he is totally committed to the elimination of Hamas as a military force, including, if necessary, mounting a full-scale offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are densely crowded.
The UK remains opposed to an assault on Rafah, since it cannot envisage how tens of thousands can be moved elsewhere in Gaza. The fear is that Rafah becomes a battleground in which Hamas makes a last stand as Israel bids to extract the remaining hostages held by militants, assuming the terms of a ceasefire are not agreed.
But Gantz is regarded as a more trustworthy constructive partner who, unlike Netanyahu, is not beholden to the far right and settler movement. He is also seen as more likely to engage in the medium term with a revamped Palestinian leadership and to hold sensible discussions on the future governance of Gaza. Netanyahu, by contrast, has said Israel will maintain security in Gaza for a decade.
The US administration also senses that Netanyahu is burning his bridges with the Biden administration, confident that Donald Trump will be elected.
It has been a form of humiliation for Biden that despite his support for Israel, which has come at high political cost, he has been reduced to airdropping aid to those desperate for food and water.
