“Could there be a clearer illustration of the nature of Starmer & Lammy’s Government than arming this ongoing genocide?”
By Matt Willgress, Labour Outlook
Recent developments have even further confirmed both the genocidal nature of Israel’s war on Gaza – including the deliberate starving of the population – and the utter complicity of Britain’s Government in it.
Developments in the last week alone illustrate how a humanitarian catastrophe continues to unfold because of Israel’s war, with Palestine’s Prime Minister, Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, declaring Gaza a “famine zone,” at the same time as hundreds of trucks of life-saving supplies are unable to enter.
Since March 2, Israeli authorities have deliberately blocked supplies, bringing to a near-standstill humanitarian efforts to protect civilians. In response, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, said, “Blocking aid starves civilians. It leaves them without basic medical support… It inflicts a cruel collective punishment.” The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said “aid is being weaponized through its denial… it has to stop.”
In terms of what this blockade means in human terms, UNICEF warned that Gaza’s children face a growing risk of starvation, illness and death, as a third of UN-supported community kitchens shut down in just 10 days. This led to a 25-per-cent reduction in daily meal production; the number of meals prepared each day has dropped from 1.08 million, produced through 180 kitchens, to 823,000 meals, through about 117 kitchens.
As the World Health Organization’s Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, said “we don’t need to see photos of emaciated children to know people are hungry, and that children are weak and malnourished, with life-long consequences.”
Additionally, over three quarters of households reported a decline in water access over the last month, amid a drastically worsening sanitation situation, with over 90% experiencing “water insecurity.”
Gaza’s medical system continues to be annihilated. Ambulance services across Gaza are shrinking due to damage and lack of access to fuel. In the words of OCHA, the health system that does still exist is “overwhelmed by traumatic injuries, damaged infrastructure, and severe shortages of specialists, supplies, and equipment – leaving persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups without essential care.”
The stats are stark. Prior to March 18, 149 ambulances were operational, of which only 48 are now. The number of public trauma hospitals has gone from seven to five. Additionally, six hospitals and two field hospitals are in areas now placed under displacement orders by Israeli authorities.
The proportion of trauma and emergency care missions denied by Israeli authorities increased from 25 to 40 per cent between 18 March and 5 May.
At the same time as the deliberate starvation of Gaza through the aid blockade, since March 18 Israeli forces have escalated bombardment from the air, land and sea, alongside expanded ground attacks. This means hundreds of casualties, destruction of infrastructure (there have been at least 14 attacks on education infrastructure alone,) and the large-scale displacement of people – over 428,000 again as of 6 May.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, between 30 April and 7 May, 230 Palestinians were killed and 883 injured. Between 7 October 2023 and 7 May 2025, at least 52,653 were killed and 118,897 injured, including 2,545 killed and 6,856 injured since the escalation of Israel’s attacks on 18 March. 278 children have been killed since October 2023.
In this context, on 7 May, UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk, responded to Israel’s reported plans to forcibly transfer Gaza’s population to a small area in the south of the strip – and threats by Israeli officials to deport Palestinians outside of Gaza – by arguing they “further aggravate concerns that Israel’s actions are aimed at inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence in Gaza as a group.”
What is the response of the British Government as this genocide continues to play out in real time in front of the world’s eyes? A groundbreaking new report has clearly shown the answer. Not only does it reveal the extraordinary scale of arms exports to Israel using new data from the Israel Tax Authority, but it also shows how “it appears that Foreign Secretary David Lammy has misled Parliament and the public about arms shipments to Israel”. (In Parliamentary jargon, the latter is a “resigning matter” – in other words, Lammy should go.)
Could there be a clearer illustration of the nature of Starmer and Lammy’s Government than arming this ongoing genocide? We must not only campaign against every single arms sale to Israel, but also build the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement. And crucially, we must never stop speaking up for – or prioritising campaigning on – Palestine.
- The Red Weekly Column will appear each Monday on Labour Outlook from one of our regular socialist contributors.
- FORUM: Palestine’s struggle & Britain’s deadly role – Balfour, Empire, the Mandate & Resistance. Online, Wednesday May 28, 18.30. Register here. With Bernard Regan, author of ‘The Balfour Declaration: Empire, Mandate and Resistance in Palestine’ & member of the PSC Executive Committee.
- NATIONAL DEMO: Join the Palestine Coalition on Saturday May 17, 12:00 pm, outside Embankment Tube, to mark the 77th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba and demand our government take action to end the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land. Route Map & info here.
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