Israel has responded frostily to a tweet from UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy that followed a letter from Britain, France and Germany about the “unacceptable humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
The foreign secretary tweeted that the three countries were urging action and said that Israel “must implement” the United Nations winter plan “now” and that Israel needs to “send equipment to guard against cold and flooding, give access to fuel, repair vital infrastructure, and get aid in.”
But in a sternly-worded reply, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said that Israel is “facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and does not impose any restrictions on the quantity of aid entering the Strip. However, within the Gaza Strip, international organizations are failing to distribute the aid due to looting by Hamas, among other reasons.”
He added that, “as U.S. Secretary of State Blinken recently noted, Israel has responded positively to the majority of issues raised by the United States regarding humanitarian concerns.”
It was “disappointing that the foreign ministers of the E3 failed to address the October 7 massacre, and the daily attacks on Israeli civilians since then in their letter,” Marmorstein said, adding that “Israel will continue to defend itself and its citizens, always in accordance with international law.”
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
The spokesman added: “In any case, the letter will be answered through the proper official channels (not via X)."
First published: 15:28, 12.04.24