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Scotland’s First Minister has said Israel’s siege of Gaza “goes too far” and called cutting off the enclave’s water and electricity supplies “unreasonable” collective punishment.
“There are innocent men, women, children, babies who have nothing to do with Hamas and they are paying a huge price for these brutal (Hamas) attacks,” Humza Youssef told British radio on Friday. The company said in an interview.
Youssef, whose father-in-law is trapped in Gaza, also expressed his “absolute sympathy” for the Israeli victims and said the country had the right to defend itself.
The Scottish leader’s comments came hours after British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps defended Israeli warnings that Palestinians should leave northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive.
The United Nations said it was “impossible” to relocate more than 1 million people during this period without “devastating humanitarian consequences”.
While Scottish regional governments have powers in domestic areas such as health care, UK foreign policy is the purview of central government in London.
The British government has maintained strong support for Israel after Hamas sent militants across the Gaza border and killed at least 1,200 civilians and soldiers.
The Palestinian Authority said Israel had killed about 1,800 people in Gaza in response.
Shapps said Israel had “the right to deal with Hamas” but added: “We have made clear to Israel that of course it needs to act within international law and be proportionate.”
The British government’s strong support for Israel has been criticized by Sir Richard Dalton, the former British ambassador to Iran and Libya. “I find everything the British government is doing to subliminally support Israel obscene and a departure from our previous position of seeking fairness in these horrific circumstances,” he told Times Radio.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night and urged Israel to “take all possible measures to protect ordinary Palestinians and facilitate humanitarian aid,” according to a Downing Street transcript of the call. ”.
Sunak told Netanyahu that Britain “stands side by side” with Israel in the fight against terror and agreed that Hamas was “entangled with the civilian population of Gaza” and must no longer be allowed to “commit atrocities” against Israel. people.
Sunak also stressed the importance of opening the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory and allow British and other nationals to leave, something he had discussed with Egypt’s president earlier on Thursday Topics discussed by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
On Friday, Sunak attended a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force, a 10-nation defense partnership led by Britain, on the Baltic island of Gotland.
In a speech to other leaders, Sunak pledged “full support” for Israel, saying: “I think we have to say that we are all outraged by Israel’s terrorist attacks… We will stand with Israel at this moment. Together.”
In the UK, Shapps said it was “very likely” that Hamas had abducted some British citizens and held them in Gaza, although he told Sky News the British government did not have firm data “for obvious reasons”.
Britain will deploy a Royal Navy task force to the eastern Mediterranean and has begun conducting military reconnaissance flights in the region to show support for Israel.
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