UK must be ready to send medics to Gaza as soon as possible, senior Tory says
The UK should be ready to send warzone-trained medics to Gaza if a ceasefire is declared to avoid a “humanitarian disaster”, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee has said.
Describing the desperate conditions of thousands living under Israeli bombardment, Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said Gazans were “resorting to eating animal feed, drinking puddle water, and are giving birth and having limbs amputated without anaesthetic”.
Writing for i, she warned that a lack of hygiene, sanitation, water and health facilities in the enclave risked “risks major disease outbreaks and avoidable deaths long after any truce is declared”.
“The international community must take action now and launch a concerted plan for how to meet the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza when the fighting stops”, she said.
The Foreign Office should open a “streamlined process” to allow doctors trained in extreme conditions to deploy to Gaza, “as the type of injuries they will encounter are unlike almost any seen in UK trauma “, Ms Kearns wrote.
“As the US, UK, and regional allies push for an immediate pause to fighting and an end to the crisis we must prepare for its aftermath.
“Time is of the essence if we are to avoid a catastrophic humanitarian disaster and the UK must lead in ensuring precious days are not wasted on planning when the time for action arrives, and that requires an international Gaza relief plan.
“It is often said it is easier to start a war than it is to end one, and that the hardest task is to rebuild once weapons have been put down.
“But in Gaza, the most pressing task is to prevent a complete humanitarian disaster. We can take action to save thousands more lives. There has been enough suffering, we cannot allow a peace to be tainted by further, avoidable tragedy.”
Alongside the deployment of UK medics, the international community needed a “plan for the World Health Organisation to urge its people to deploy a mass vaccination programme for tetanus, cholera and other preventable health causes”, Ms Kearns added.
On Tuesday, Qatar, which is acting as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, said the two sides were “not near a deal” for a ceasefire but that talks were ongoing.
It came as Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, suggested that Israel’s blockage of aid from entering Gaza could harm its defence against claims it is breaching international law.
He told the House of Lords: “Getting more aid into Gaza requires the work of more than just Israel taking the relevant steps, but Israel is the country that could, I think, make the greatest difference because some of the blockages and the screening problems and all the rest of it are their responsibility.
“It’s true that how Israel behaves as the occupying power in terms of allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza that is a material consideration when it comes to looking at how they are complying with international humanitarian law.”
The Foreign Secretary urged Tel Aviv to open one of its ports to allow aid arriving by sea to get through to Gaza, and for more visas to be issued to UN workers to help with aid efforts.
He added: “Israel must remove restrictions on aid and restore electricity, water and telecommunications.
“If Israel really wanted to help they could open Ashdod port which is in Israel, which is a fully functioning port that could really maximise the delivery of aid from Cyprus straight into Israel and therefore into Gaza.”
