Is Gaza left behind in global peace efforts?

SIR KEIR STARMER has been talking of deploying British peacekeeping troops between Ukraine and Russia. He has indicated other countries might also join in as part of the “coalition of the willing”.

President Trump has said he wishes to see an end to the killing in Ukraine (but not in Gaza).

As a matter of fact, “boots on the ground” are needed even more urgently in Gaza, where many more women and children have died than in Ukraine.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has a cordial relationship with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu. However, India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, had this to say about the Gaza war when he was in London recently: “We have a position which is very objective and balanced. We do condemn terrorism and hostage taking. We do believe that countries have a right to respond to that, but we also believe that humanitarian law should be observed in undertaking operations. We do think there’s an urgent need to get relief and rehabilitation done in Gaza, and we will remain a strong advocate for a two-state solution.”

The British foreign secretary, David Lammy, went a lot further: “Israel is breaking international law in Gaza, Britain has said for the first time, as David Lammy accused Binyamin Netanyahu’s government of ‘starving children’,” the Times reported.

It added: “The foreign secretary said that the two-week long blockade of food, fuel and medicine imposed by Israel on Gaza was ‘appalling and unacceptable’. He urged Israel to allow humanitarian trucks back into Gaza and said that the hold-up in deliveries to 2.3 million Palestinians was ‘hugely alarming and very worrying’.”

The Times went on: “Britain has avoided making definitive judgements about the legality of Israel’s conduct since the October 7 terror attacks of 2023.

“However, in a significant hardening of the UK’s position, Lammy said of the recent suspension of aid deliveries: ‘This is a breach of international law.’”

Speaking in the Commons, Rupa Huq, the Labour MP for London’s Ealing Central and Acton, accused Israel of taking “provocative action during Ramadan” and asked what consequences there would be for what “people are saying is a breach of international law”.

A resident in Odessa, Ukraine, as smoke rises from a fire following a strike earlier this month amid the Russian invasion

In response, Lammy said: “This is a breach of international law. Israel quite rightly must defend its own security. But we find the lack of aid – it’s now been 15 days since aid got into Gaza – unacceptable, hugely alarming and very worrying.

“We would urge Israel to get back to the amount of trucks we were seeing – way beyond 600 – so Palestinians can get the necessary humanitarian support that they need at this time.”

Later, the former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, urged Lammy to accuse Israel of acting “illegally” and “in breach of international law”.

Lammy said in response: “I did say in my contribution that it is in breach of international humanitarian law.”

Asked by Jim Shannon, the DUP MP for Strangford, how the UK would protect “children from both sides” in Israel and Gaza, Lammy tried to be evenhanded: “I think it’s horrendous that when one looks at the scenes of those hostages coming out that, among those hooded young men with Kalashnikovs, are children. This cannot be right or proper.

“At the same time, it cannot be right to starve children of the humanitarian aid, the medical supplies that they need at this time whilst we seek to deal with the problems of Hamas and get those hostages out.”

It cannot be that killing in Ukraine is not acceptable, but in Gaza it is. One does not have to take sides to understand that the continuing Gaza war has had serious consequences for British society. Peace is needed as much in Ukraine as it is in Gaza. The same principles have to apply. Hence, Starmer should also press for peacekeeping forces to separate Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. That would also be beneficial for Israel.