Leaders from the U.K., France and Canada issued a joint statement calling on the Israeli government to end its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter the region.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Longtime allies of Israel are now saying to the country, enough is enough.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This week, leaders from the U.K., France and Canada issued a joint statement calling on the Israeli government to end its military operations in Gaza and to immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter the region. In comments made in Parliament, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy addressed the Israeli prime minister directly.
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DAVID LAMMY: Prime Minister Netanyahu, end this blockade now and let the aid in.
UNIDENTIFIED MEMBERS OF UK PARLIAMENT: Hear-hear.
SHAPIRO: Lammy condemned the Israeli government’s latest planned offensive in Gaza and blasted a statement from the Israeli finance minister, who vowed Monday to conquer and cleanse the territory until Hamas is destroyed.
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LAMMY: Destroying what’s left, of resident Palestinians being relocated, he said, to third countries. We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous. And I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.
UNIDENTIFIED MEMBERS OF UK PARLIAMENT: Hear-hear.
KELLY: Today, the U.K. announced it would suspend free trade talks with Israel and impose sanctions on several Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
SHAPIRO: In Paris, the French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told members of the National Assembly that, quote, “blind violence” and the obstruction of humanitarian aid are turning Gaza into a place of death.
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JEAN-NOEL BARROT: (Through interpreter) It is not an offense to the people of Israel to say that today, the Israeli government is jeopardizing Israel’s security because peace and stability cannot be built on injustice and violence.
KELLY: Netanyahu responded to the joint statement on X, saying it rewards Hamas and invites more attacks similar to the one on October 7, 2023.
SHAPIRO: But pressure has been mounting on Israel as the devastation in Gaza increases. Experts warn of a looming famine, as Israel has blocked most humanitarian aid from entering the region for nearly three months.
KELLY: Meanwhile, Israeli strikes have expanded across Gaza, and Israel has ordered a mass evacuation of civilians in Khan Yunis. It’s part of Israel’s widening offensive aimed at pressuring Hamas into releasing hostages. NPR’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi brings us this report.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Dust rises off the destroyed streets as thousands of Palestinians make their way out of Khan Yunis. Women carry blue plastic bags filled with whatever belongings they have left. A man balances his children and suitcases on a horse-drawn cart. Israel’s military says the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza is now designated a dangerous combat zone. NPR producer Ahmed Abuhamda spoke by phone to 55-year-old Luai Zraik. The biology teacher says there’s nowhere to go, but his kids are hungry.
LUAI ZRAIK: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: “They want to eat,” he says. “I can’t provide them with food or safety.”
On Monday, Israel said it allowed a small number of trucks into Gaza with baby food, after nearly three months of a total blockade. The United Nations says that’s not enough and that the denial of essential supplies to civilians risks breaching international law. Carrying a big yellow water can over his shoulders, Taher al-Farra says he’s desperate.
TAHER AL-FARRA: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: “No food, no drink, no education, no health, no medical care,” he says, “just displacement, humiliation, destruction and death every day.”
Hope sparked up when Hamas and Israel said ceasefire talks resumed in Doha this week, but it was short-lived when, two days later, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he had bad news about the negotiations.
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PRIME MINISTER SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL THANI: Unfortunately, it didn’t lead us anywhere yet because there is a fundamental gap between the two parties.
AL-SHALCHI: Hamas wants a complete end to the war. Israel wants the right to return to war after the hostages are released. Um Mohamed Gdeih called on the Hamas delegation to just surrender.
UM MOHAMED GDEIH: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: “End it. We’re exhausted. If you have an ounce of dignity, an ounce of love for Gaza, just end it,” she screams.
In Israel, some say this time, the war feels different. It’s not just about bringing back the hostages.
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UNIDENTIFIED ISRAELI PROTESTERS: (Shouting in non-English language).
AL-SHALCHI: On Sunday, a group of Israelis marched to the Gaza border in protest of the war. Some carried signs that said, end the genocide – a charge Israel is disputing at a U.N. court in The Hague. Videos posted online showed Israeli military forces arresting protesters. On Tuesday, Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff in the Israeli military, told Israeli public media that Israel was becoming a pariah state because of the war in Gaza.
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YAIR GOLAN: (Speaking Hebrew).
AL-SHALCHI: “A sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby and does not set goals for itself like the expulsion of a population,” Golan said.
On the barren road out of Khan Yunis, a Palestinian woman in a black robe says life isn’t worth living anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: “We don’t want to eat. We don’t want to drink. We just want to die,” she says.
Hadeel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
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