Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward, UK Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The UK called this meeting alongside Denmark, France, Greece and Slovenia in response to the alarming warnings that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is worse than it has ever been.
So we are calling for three urgent things.
First, the UK calls on Israel to lift its block on aid.
The World Food Programme warned us over a week ago that they have no food left.
And IPC data released yesterday shows that the whole of Gaza is at the risk of famine.
Meanwhile, tonnes of food are currently sitting rotting at the border, blocked from reaching people who are starving.
This is cruel and it is inexcusable.
And it risks further deaths that should be avoidable.
Second, the UK will not support any aid mechanism that seeks to deliver political or military objectives or puts vulnerable civilians at risk.
We call on Israel to urgently engage with the UN to ensure a return to delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles.
International law requires Israel to allow the rapid and unimpeded provision of humanitarian aid to all civilians.
Third, the UK reiterates our outrage at the killing of Palestinian Red Crescent workers and the strikes on a UNOPS compound in March.
We are disappointed that Israel has not yet released the final findings of its investigation into the UNOPS incident or taken concrete action to ensure these incidents can never happen again.
President, the release of Edan Alexander yesterday after 17 months of cruel Hamas captivity offers a rare moment of hope.
We must never forget the suffering of those hostages that remain in Gaza and those families awaiting the return of their loved ones' remains.
It is ceasefire deals that have delivered the release of over 180 hostages and allowed a massive scale-up of aid for desperate Palestinians.
This shows what is possible with political will.
This is why we strongly oppose an expansion of this conflict, as do many hostages' families.
And it is a ceasefire deal that now offers the best hope of ending the agony of the hostages and their families, alleviating the suffering of civilians in Gaza, ending Hamas' control of Gaza and achieving a pathway to a two-state solution.
