Israel should carry restrictions on support to war-torn Gaza as winter bites, Yvette Cooper calls for
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper tells The Mirror: ‘You’ve got the weather rolling in – the storms and flooding as a result. There’s over a million people not in proper shelter or accomodation’
Israel must lift restrictions on desperately needed humanitarian aid entering war-torn Gaza as the winter months bite, Yvette Cooper has demanded.
The Foreign Secretary told The Mirror the situation in the region was “horrendous” – and warned “nowhere near enough” supplies are reaching its citizens. She said: “You’ve got the weather rolling in – the storms and flooding as a result. There’s over a million people not in proper shelter or accomodation.”
With Gaza’s healthcare system decimated and over 90% of homes destroyed or damaged by Israeli attacks, Ms Cooper said the deteriorating weather was making the situation even worse. Agencies including the International Rescue Committee have warned of the danger as winter sets in with “families, including those with infants, live entirely exposed to the elements”.
“Without warm clothing, children are highly vulnerable to illness, and with no heat or adequate shelter, even a simple cold can become life-threatening,” the IRC added this week. Ms Cooper said the situation was “particularly risky for small children and the elderly and for anyone that’s ill”, adding: “That’s why the tents and other equipment is so urgently needed.”
READ MORE: Prince William ‘moved by courage’ of Gaza children after emotional secret meetingREAD MORE: Fears of fresh Israel-Hezbollah war following Gaza air strikes
The Foreign Secretary’s comments came as she viewed aid bound for Gaza outside the Foreign Office, central London, including one of thousands of tents already delivered. Around 2,400 tents – each big enough for a family of five – were finally supplied by UK aid earlier in December after being delayed for many months.
Ms Cooper said: “2,400 tents that we’ve managed to get in. They’ve been waiting for very many months. But we’ve managed now to get them in in the last 10 days. That’s really important. That will help more than 12,000 people and at a time when conditions are horrendous.”
The Foreign Secretary said the focus was also on supporting getting doctors and medical supplies into Gaza. She said: “I talked to the Jordanian King. They have a field hospital unit, which would be a maternity and neonatal unit ready to go in but again needs to get in as well.
“There’s a lot of different countries and a lot of different agencies, who are providing aid and support. We need to go further… but what we also need is to make sure the crossing are opened.” Asked about the situation on the ground, Ms Cooper said: “I feel really worried about it. Throughout the winter – really worried.
“We have the chance – the ceasefire is fragile, but we do have a ceasefire in place, and we do have this international commitment to a peace process that is really important. But as part of that process the very basics means getting the humanitarian aid in. It means getting the healthcare in, it means getting the shelter in, it means getting sufficient food in. There is more going in since the ceasefire but it is just nowhere near enough.”
She added: “We’ve seen all the restrictions starting to be lifted, but it needs to go further. So we are urging the Israeli government to lift restrictions, we’re urging them to open crossings. But we’re also urging international partners to all come together as part of the peace process.”
Under the ceasefire agreement Benjamin Netanyahu’s government agreed to allow 600 trucks into aid each day – but a recent analysis showed the number falling far short. Associated Press said an average of 459 have entered the war-torn region a day.
Ms Cooper said: “There has been an increase in trucks going in. But I don’t think it’s enough to focus on trucks because actually it’s also about what materials are able to go in and also the fact we know there is a lot more that could get in because it’s in the warehouses. So I think we need to be going far beyond what is coming in the trucks at the moment.”
Last month The Mirror visited a warehouse with Ms Cooper where around 5,000 pallets – 4,000 metric tonnes – of necessities like wheat flour, tinned goods, yeast and sugar were languishing in a World Food Programme (WFP) depot outside Amman, in Jordan, due to Israeli restrictions.
Ms Cooper said on Thursday the supplies “could be feeding 700,000 people for a month” and there were 30 more warehouses like it in Egypt and Jordan.
Since the October 7 2023 attack led by Hamas on southern Israel at least 70,000 people have died in Gaza. Pressed on why the UK government is reluctant to use the word genocide to describe the situation, Ms Cooper said: “That has always been a matter for international courts to determine. That’s always been the way it is and it’s for international courts to decide.
“But the reality is the conditions in Gaza are horrendous. That’s the reality. That’s what we should be trying to tackle.” She added: “There is a fragile ceasefire. There are commitments that have been made, international commitments, but also commitments made by Hamas, the Israeli government.
“And then commitments made by a lot of other countries, including neighbouring countries, and countries across the world to support this peace process. But we have to keep it moving. That means getting additional humanitarian aid in place.
“It means getting some of the decommissioning in place, it means the proposal around the withdrawal of Israeli troops. It means proposals around the international stabilisation force. It also means the Palestinian committee to be able to be working with the Palestinian Authority as well because ultimately Gaza has to be run by Palestinians.
“We see this as it has to be on a journey to a two-state solution because ultimately otherwise we will not get security and stability both for Palestine and for Israel.”
