UK trying to minimize risk of escalation in Middle East, says British foreign minister

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - British Foreign Minister James Cleverly on Tuesday said the government has been closely working with the international community in the region to minimize the risk of further escalation in Gaza.

In an interview with Sky News, Cleverly responded to questions regarding the British government's support for the people of Gaza amid the recent escalation of tensions in the region.

To a question about what support the British government offers to the people of Gaza, Cleverly began by highlighting the British government's commitment to working closely with the international community and countries in the region and stressed the importance of preventing the conflict from spreading beyond its current boundaries.

"I have spoken with the Egyptian foreign minister and of course the Rafah crossing, which is the land crossing from Gaza into Israel, is open. So there is the opportunity for people to leave Gaza into Egypt.

"We will continue talking with Egyptian authorities about maintaining that crossing. I mean, ultimately, the point that we're seeing is that Israel has come under attack from Hamas, they do have a legitimate right to proportionate response to try and secure their borders to try and prevent further atrocities like this and we support them."

The interviewer said she understood that but "that's not quite answering my question. You could take this opportunity, I suppose to offer public support to those people in Gaza that are basically under siege at the moment. No water. No food."

Cleverly in response said: "I think that the implicit in your question, there's this idea that somehow if we say something about one country, we have to say something about that. Yes, I know that. Absolutely. But the truth is that the reason we express our solidarity with the people of Israel is because terrorists took action to kidnap and murder, and we’re now seeing reports that they are threatening to publicly execute people that they have kidnapped."

"The idea that somehow there is an equivalence between the actions of the Israeli government in their self-defense and the actions of Hamas is completely inappropriate."

The journalist against told him: "I’m not saying that at all, foreign secretary ... What about the people in Gaza who have no food, no electricity, no water? Do you have a word for them?"

In response, Cleverly reiterated the UK's commitment to minimizing the loss of life and suggested that Israel's actions in self-defense were necessary to prevent Hamas from carrying out terrorist activities.

- Ongoing conflict

The Palestinian Hamas group launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel early Saturday, firing a barrage of rockets and infiltrating Israel by land, air, and sea. It said the surprise attack was in response to the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and increased settler violence against Palestinians.

In retaliation, the Israeli military launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza has risen to 704, including 143 children and 105 women, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said early Tuesday. It said the number of wounded has risen to around 4,000.

At least 900 Israelis have been killed and over 2,600 others wounded in the fighting, according to the Israeli Health Ministry.