The United Kingdom was honoured to co-chair the Working Group on Humanitarian Action and Reconstruction with our esteemed friends in Egypt,\u00a0and\u00a0we are grateful to all\u00a0those\u00a0who contributed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Our discussions reflected a shared sense of outrage at the scale of human suffering.<\/p>\n
The humanitarian pause in fighting is essential, but long overdue.<\/p>\n
This must be kept in place and lead to a lasting ceasefire that brings the war to an end, allows hostages to be freed and ensures aid can get into Gaza without obstruction.<\/p>\n
The working group heard a clear message that Israel must uphold international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and stop obstructing aid.<\/p>\n
It clearly rejected the misuse of aid for military or political ends, and any attempts at demographic or territorial change.<\/p>\n
The United Nations must be allowed to save lives, reduce suffering and preserve dignity. And there was strong support among the group for UNRWA, which faces a $200 million shortfall.<\/p>\n
The UK is acting to alleviate suffering. The Foreign Secretary has announced an additional $54 million in humanitarian assistance, including $27 million for UNRWA.<\/p>\n
We are working with international partners to fund joint aid projects, ensuring that assistance reaches those in the most desperate need.<\/p>\n
Contributors to the group also affirmed their commitment to secure a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.<\/p>\n
We\u00a0also\u00a0want to see meaningful steps towards a viable, independent Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.<\/p>\n
Beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis, Gaza\u2019s recovery needs will be vast. Getting the right approach will be crucial to ensure a two-state solution remains possible.<\/p>\n
And so, the UK is mobilising support for the Arab Islamic reconstruction plan, building consensus on the security and governance needed for its implementation.<\/p>\n
Many in the working group echoed our view \u2014 and that of President Abbas \u2014 that Hamas must be removed from governance, disarmed, and renounce violence.<\/p>\n
We are committed to inclusive governance in Gaza, led by Palestinians, and we will expand technical assistance to the Palestinian Authority to support recovery and reconstruction.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, we stand ready to coordinate international donor support and harness the power of the private sector.<\/p>\n
This includes co-chairing a conference with the Palestinian Authority and Egypt in October on innovative financing.<\/p>\n
Before concluding, I would like to add that the UK reads the conference\u2019s outcome document in a way that is consistent with our own findings on compliance with international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n
As we look to the future, this is the moment for us to unite around an alternative plan for Gaza \u2014 and take urgent and tangible steps towards a two-state solution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United Kingdom was honoured to co-chair the Working Group on Humanitarian Action and Reconstruction with our esteemed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-299362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114932751116419735","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}