At a Gaza aid conference held in Egypt on Monday, the UK, France, and Germany said Israel should collaborate with the UN on a humanitarian program for winter weather.
“Winter is approaching in Gaza – and with it rain and cold,” the German Foreign Office said. “The Israeli government must ensure that the UN can implement its winter plan. The people in Gaza need much more humanitarian aid now.”
The French Foreign and European Affairs Ministry said the Israeli government would have to open crossing points and distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza to avoid a “catastrophic situation.”
“France, the United Kingdom, and Germany call on Israel to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law and to guarantee the protection of civilian populations,” it said.
UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs Secretary David Lammy said Israel should implement the UN winter plan by repairing infrastructure, sending equipment to counter cold and flooding, as well as fuel. The humanitarian situation in Gaza was unacceptable, he said.
UK Minister for Development at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Anneliese Dodds said Gaza needed increased aid. The UK would commit £19 million of Gaza funding, including £12m. for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and World Food Program (WFP) and £7m. for UNRWA’s Flash Humanitarian Appeal for Gaza to address winter conditions in the war zone, she said.
“Gazans are in desperate need of food and shelter with the onset of winter,” she added. “The Cairo conference will be an opportunity to get leading voices in one room and put forward real-world solutions to the humanitarian crisis.”
Dodds said she plans to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, UK-linked hostage families, and a Palestinian community that is reportedly at risk of demolition.
The Egyptian aid conference was aimed at securing aid commitments from delegates from 103 states, international bodies, and financial institutions, according to the Egyptian government.
Accusing Israel of collective punishment
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed criticized Israel for what she said was “collective punishment” of Gazans. Most of the Palestinian casualties since the October 7 massacre and ensuing war were women and children, she said.
Famine and malnutrition were rampant in the strip, with 19,000 children reportedly hospitalized due to acute malnutrition, Mohammed said.
“What we are seeing may well amount to the gravest international crimes,” she said.
Mohammed urged the attendees to demand that all parties respect their obligations under international law, to defend the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the broader humanitarian aid system, and to intensify efforts for a political solution to end the conflict.
The European Union issued a statement in support of the UN aid system and UNRWA and reiterated support for a two-state solution in line with Mohammed’s call to action. The EU echoed calls to open corridors into Gaza to facilitate the transfer of supplies and for urgent action to stop the looting of aid.
The EU did not specify a sum that it would be committing to humanitarian aid, but it promised that it was advancing “an ambitious multi-annual response package to address both the immediate fiscal emergency and the long-term structural challenges faced by the Palestinian Authority.”