Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has razed residential neighborhoods and devastated critical infrastructure, according to media reports. (AFP file photo)
- Pace of support ‘shockingly slow,’ Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says
- Nations must ‘come together as we did last autumn,’ she says
The UK on Monday said it would provide £10 million ($13.4 million) in funding to support early recovery efforts in the Gaza Strip, as it called for faster international action on a 20-point peace plan for the region.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the money would go to the UN Horizon Fund to back a Palestinian-led, UN-coordinated recovery effort with a focus on water and sanitation, healthcare, education, housing, debris clearance and reducing the risk from unexploded devices.
The UK will also join the EU-led Team Gaza Initiative, a coalition aimed at mobilizing political support, financing and practical assistance for Gaza’s recovery.
That initiative is expected to support a package worth €750 million ($854 million).
Speaking at the Palestine Donor Group in Brussels, Cooper said that while the scale of destruction was “devastating,” the “pace of support, despite all the promises made in the peace plan, is still shockingly slow.”
She also criticized Israel’s efforts to stop aid from entering Gaza.
“The scale of continuing Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid and on basic shelter and healthcare support is deeply destructive and immoral,” she said.
Cooper urged countries to “come together as we did last autumn” to prevent the peace plan from faltering.
“Humanitarian support was supposed to be part of phase one and it should never be withheld.”
The UK said it would continue backing the Palestinian-led reconstruction of Gaza and efforts toward a two-state solution, alongside support for Palestinian institutions.
“There can be no lasting peace without a credible path to a two-state solution, with a secure Israel alongside a viable, sovereign Palestinian state,” Cooper said, adding that Britain would work with the Palestinian Authority, UN, EU and regional partners to support that goal.
At least 73,200 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its war on Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. More than 90 percent of the population of Gaza has been repeatedly displaced, according to local health authorities, and the enclave’s infrastructure has been decimated.
Residents remain confined to less than half of Gaza’s territory and face continued airstrikes, displacement and protection risks, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Despite a ceasefire being announced in October, at least 1,084 people have been killed and almost 3,500 injured since then, health authorities said.
Aid operations are also under strain. The OCHA said in a situation report on Friday that insecurity and delays were increasing, with external actors exploiting humanitarian shipments to smuggle high-value goods that local authorities then attempt to seize.
Operations are also hindered by Israeli-imposed access restrictions inside Gaza.
World Central Kitchen said on Wednesday that a driver working for one of its partner companies was killed by Israeli forces while transporting goods from the Kerem Shalom crossing to a warehouse, according to the OCHA’s report.
The incident happened in a restricted zone during a movement coordinated with Israeli authorities, it said.
The Gaza peace plan was launched in September by US President Donald Trump and is now in its second phase. It seeks to secure a lasting ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, free hostages, disarm armed groups, and rebuild Gaza under a technocratic Palestinian administration.
Under the framework, a 15-member Palestinian committee would assume day-to-day governance in Gaza, linked to West Bank institutions under the principle of “one authority, one law and one weapon.”
Its implementation is overseen by a Board of Peace chaired by Trump and represented on the ground by former UN envoy Nikolay Mladenov.
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