Keir Starmer: Situation in Gaza ‘Getting Worse by the Day’ Amid Israeli Genocide and Blockade

London (Quds News Network)- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that the situation in Gaza is getting “worse by the day,” stressing the urgent need to increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave, which is facing a looming famine after more than 80 days of Israeli blockade.

“The situation is intolerable in Gaza, and getting worse by the day,” Starmer told reporters in Scotland, when asked whether the UK would take any action over the issue.

“Which is why we are working with allies … to be absolutely clear that humanitarian aid needs to get in at speed and at volumes that it is not getting in at the moment, causing absolute devastation,” he added.

In a joint statement last month, 23 nations—including Canada, the UK, France, and Australia—condemned Israel for allowing only very limited humanitarian aid into Gaza. The statement urged Israel to permit the entry of more aid, warning that the population is facing “starvation.” It emphasized that humanitarian assistance should never be politicized.

The leaders of the UK, France, and Canada also issued a sharp warning to Israel. In a separate joint statement, they condemned Israel’s expanded attacks on Gaza and the West Bank and threatened concrete action if the offensive continues and the blockade on humanitarian aid is not lifted.

“We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions,” the statement said. “If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.”

There have been increasing calls from British lawyers, artists, and authors urging the government to impose sanctions on Israel in response to the ongoing assault and blockade.

On March 2, Israel announced the closure of Gaza’s main crossings, cutting off food, medical and humanitarian supplies, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians, according to reports by human rights organisations who have accused it of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinains.

An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report last month warned that almost a quarter of the civilian population would face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase Five) in the coming months.

After over 80 days of total blockade and starvation and widespread international outrage, a limited aid distributed last week has been provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a scandal-plagued organisation that is a US-Israeli initiative designed to bypass the UN’s infrastructure for aid delivery and distribution in the strip.

Most humanitarian organisations, including the UN, have distanced themselves from GHF, arguing that the group violates humanitarian principles by restricting aid to south and central Gaza, requiring Palestinians to walk long distances to collect aid, and only providing limited aid, among other critiques.

The United Nations confirmed that Israel is still blocking food from reaching starving Palestinians with only a few trucks of aid having reached Gaza.

UN secretary general, António Guterres, said last week that Israel had only authorised for Gaza what “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required” to ease the crisis.

The limited number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza falls far short of meeting the territory’s vast humanitarian needs and instead serves as a “smokescreen” for Israel to “pretend the siege is over,” according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders.