Emily Thornberry rebukes Israel's ambassador, says Israel broke ceasefire deal

Emily Thornberry, Chair of the UK's Foreign Affairs Select Committee, has publicly accused the Israeli ambassador to the UK and criticized the Israeli government for failing to adhere to the initial ceasefire agreement reached with Hamas. She believes the Israeli government unilaterally broke the ceasefire agreement, leading to the renewed outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip. This unilateral action has further complicated the already fragile situation.

MP Thornberry stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu restarted military operations in Gaza because he is "desperate to maintain power." She was responding to comments made by Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely during an interview with Sky News, in which Hotovely claimed that Israel had "no choice" but to resume bombing Gaza this week. "Hamas is directly responsible for this," Hotovely said. "Hamas violated the ceasefire agreement, stopped releasing hostages... Hamas is no longer releasing hostages." Hotovely added that "Israel has no choice but to put pressure on the terrorist organization." The ambassador emphasized the need for decisive action against Hamas.

Thornberry refuted Hotovely's claims during a Sky News interview later that day. "I think what the ambassador fails to acknowledge is that there was a general understanding across the international community, including President Biden, that this agreement was ready to go last summer." She explained that the first phase of the agreement involved Hamas releasing Israeli hostages in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian detainees. The second phase was supposed to include an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and negotiations on the future of Gaza. "However, by March, as far as I understand, Israel unilaterally said we're not going into phase two; we only want to stay in phase one," she explained. "We only want to continue getting more hostages and releasing prisoners. We're not prepared to talk about withdrawing from Gaza, we're not prepared to talk about the future of Gaza. And the reason for that is that Netanyahu is desperate to maintain power." This breakdown in negotiations has led to the current escalation.

Thornberry also questioned Hotovely's assertion that the Israeli military is targeting Hamas in Gaza in a proportionate manner. "They say that after all this time, they are still chasing Hamas, but if they are chasing Hamas in a proportionate way, why are so many civilians being killed?" She added, "That is the problem that the Israeli ambassador has when answering this question." The high civilian death toll raises serious concerns about the proportionality of Israel's military actions.

In an interview with LBC on Tuesday, Thornberry repeatedly declined to say whether the UK should consider sanctions against Israel. "I think what we need to do is stop Israel from starving children. Then the question is: how do we get them to stop? Will sanctions make them stop? No. What will make them stop is finding a political solution to this problem." She went on to advocate for a two-state solution. Thornberry's latest criticism of the Israeli ambassador comes after UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that a British national was injured in an Israeli attack on a UN compound in Gaza the previous day. The UK government has not explicitly condemned Israel's renewed attacks on Gaza. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer publicly contradicted the Foreign Secretary after Lammy stated that Israel's blockade of Gaza was a violation of international law. Lammy subsequently retracted his comments, stating on Thursday that "it is difficult to see how denying humanitarian assistance to civilians can be consistent with international humanitarian law." He added: "Our position remains that there is a clear risk that actions taken by Israel in Gaza are in breach of international humanitarian law" – but he did not directly accuse Israel of violating international humanitarian law. The UK's stance remains cautious amidst growing international concern.