Category: 2. World

LONDON: The UK foreign secretary has suggested that Israel’s defense minister could be sanctioned over plans to relocate Gaza’s population into a camp in the south of the territory.

Israel Katz told Israeli media last week that he wanted to establish what he described as a “humanitarian city” amid the ruins of Rafah to initially house 600,000 people.

Those entering the camp would be screened to ensure they were not Hamas members, and would not be allowed to leave. The aim would be to move the entire population of Gaza — more than 2 million people — inside the zone. 

The plans have been widely condemned, with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees describing the proposed site as a “concentration camp” that would deprive Palestinians of their homeland.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the International Development Committee on Wednesday that he condemned the “unconscionable” plans in the strongest terms.

Asked whether he would consider sanctions against Katz similar to those imposed by the UK against Israel’s far-right government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich last month, Lammy said he could not comment on sanctions that are under consideration.

“But you have heard my statement about what has been said by minister Katz and you will have heard my statements previously about ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir and then the subsequent decision that I took.

“No defense minister should be talking about effectively holding people, unable to leave, presumably, in the manner in which he described,” Lammy added.

The UK government is coming under increased pressure, including from within its own ranks, to take further action against Israel amid daily reports of atrocities in Gaza.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he was “appalled” by further reports of civilians being killed in the enclave, “particularly when they are trying to access aid.”

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by gunfire in recent weeks as they attempted to access aid distributed by the widely criticized Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is run by the US and Israel. 

“Each of those incidents does need to be fully and transparently investigated,” Starmer said. 

But the prime minister has been accused by his own MPs of not taking a sufficiently tough stance against Israel for its actions in Gaza, where more than 58,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2023.

Labour MP Imran Hussain angrily asked Starmer in parliament on Wednesday “how many more horrors must we witness” before the prime minister imposes against Israel the same scale of sanctions that the UK has placed on Russia for its Ukraine invasion.

Last week, almost 60 Labour MPs sent a letter to Lammy responding to Katz’s Gaza plans in which they demanded the UK immediately recognize Palestine as a state, The Guardian reported.

“By not recognizing (Palestine) as a state, we undermine our own policy of a two-state solution and set an expectation that the status quo can continue and see the effective erasure and annexation of Palestinian territory,” the MPs warned.

Asked again on Wednesday whether the UK would recognize Palestinian statehood, Lammy insisted the “symbolic” action needed to be “part of a process,” including the agreement of a ceasefire.

During a state visit to the UK last week, French President Emmanuel Macron urged Starmer to recognize Palestine in tandem with France. He said the move would initiate a political momentum which is “the only path to peace.”

France has suggested it will go ahead with recognition during an international UN conference on a two-state solution later this month. It is co-hosting the event with Saudi Arabia at the UN headquarters in New York with the aim of adopting concrete measures toward implementation of a two-state solution.

Israel bombed the Syrian army’s headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday after warning the government to leave the country’s Druze minority alone, as authorities announced a ceasefire in the community’s southern heartland after deadly sectarian clashes.

Syrian government forces entered the majority-Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a ceasefire agreed with Druze community leaders following days of fighting with local Bedouin tribes.

However, witnesses reported that the government forces joined with the Bedouin in attacking Druze fighters and civilians in a bloody rampage through the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that the violence in Sweida province since Sunday had left more than 300 people dead, including government forces, local fighters and 27 Druze civilians killed in “summary executions … by members of the defence and interior ministries”.

The Syrian presidency vowed to investigate the “heinous acts” in Sweida and to punish “all those proven to be involved”.

State media said a fresh ceasefire had been agreed, announcing “the deployment of security checkpoints” in Sweida city. A previous truce declared on Tuesday appeared to have had little effect on the ground.

The fighting was the most serious outbreak of violence in Syria since government forces battled Druze fighters in Sweida province and near Damascus in April and May, leaving more than 100 people dead.

The authorities have had strained relations with Syria’s patchwork of religious and ethnic minorities since they toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December.

Israel, which has its own Druze community, has presented itself as a defender of the group, although some analysts say that is a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping Syrian government forces as far from their shared frontier as possible.

Following Assad’s fall, the Israeli military took control of the UN-monitored demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights and conducted hundreds of strikes on military targets in Syria.

Syrian state TV reported several Israeli strikes today near the army and defence ministry headquarters in central Damascus, with Israel’s army saying it had “struck the entrance of the Syrian regime’s military headquarters”.

AFP images showed the side of a building in the defence complex in ruins after the strike, as smoke billowed over the area.

Israel said it had also struck a “military target” in the area of the presidential palace in Damascus.

The Syrian health ministry said that at least one person was killed and 18 others wounded in the strikes on Damascus.

‘Existential battle’

Turkey, which has backed Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s administration, said “Israel’s attacks on Damascus … constitute an act of sabotage against Syria’s efforts to secure peace, stability and security.”

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called on Damascus to “leave the Druze in Sweida alone”, later threatening to unleash “painful blows” to “eliminate the forces that attacked the Druze until their full withdrawal” from Syria’s south.

Israel said it was sending more troops to the armistice line between the occupied Golan Heights and Syrian-controlled territory.

A military official said some troops would be redeployed there from the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s conflict against Hamas was in its 22nd month.

Dozens of people were crossing the heavily fortified Golan frontier, according to an AFP correspondent in Majdal Shams, a mainly Druze town in the Israeli-annexed area.

A military statement said Israeli forces were “operating to prevent the infiltration” from Syrian territory and to “safely return the civilians who crossed the border” from the Israeli-controlled side.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of forces of the government near territory it controls.

The head of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, called the situation “an existential battle for the Druze community”.

Abuses ‘must stop’

Sporadic gunfire continued to ring out in Sweida today, an AFP correspondent reported before the latest ceasefire was announced.

The correspondent counted the bodies of around 30 combatants, some in plain clothes and some in military uniform.

The Observatory, witnesses and Druze armed groups have said government forces took part in fighting alongside the Bedouin against the Druze.

The Syrian defence ministry accused “outlaw groups” of attacking its forces inside the city, saying they are now “continuing to respond to the sources of fire”.

The Bedouin and the Druze have been at loggerheads for decades, with the latest violence triggered by the kidnapping of a Druze vegetable merchant, the Observatory said.

Since they toppled Assad in December, Syria’s authorities and their allies have been repeatedly accused of not doing enough to protect the country’s religious and ethnic minorities.

The United States, a close ally of Israel, was “talking to both sides, all the relevant sides on this and hopefully we can bring it to a conclusion, but we’re very concerned”, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

US President Donald Trump’s administration asked Israel again to halt strikes on Syria and engage in dialogue with the government in Damascus, Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reported, citing a senior US official.

Neither Axios nor Ravid said whether that request came before or after Israeli strikes on Syria’s military headquarters and near the presidential palace in Damascus.

France said that “the abuses targeting civilians, which we strongly condemn, must stop”, while the European Union urged “all external actors” to “fully respect Syria’s sovereignty”.

Germany criticised the airstrikes, urging Tel Aviv to refrain from actions that could destabilise the country, Anadolu reported.

The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also condemned the attacks on Damascus in the “strongest terms”, Al Jazeera reported.

In a statement, GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi said the air campaign represented a “flagrant violation” of Syria’s sovereignty, “a breach of international laws and norms, and a serious threat to regional security and stability”.

Albudaiwi reiterated the GCC’s support for Syria’s territorial integrity, adding that the continuation of the repeated Israeli attacks had constituted an “irresponsible escalation” and disregarded international efforts to achieve stability in Syria and the region.

He also called for international action to stop the “serious violations, hold the perpetrators accountable, and work diligently to protect the Syrian people and preserve its sovereignty in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law”.​