JOHN Swinney has urged the Prime Minister to recall the UK Parliament immediately in the wake of Israel’s latest “outrageous and unacceptable” assault on Gaza.
Following several weeks of threats of a new large-scale offensive, which has been strongly opposed by the majority of the international community, Israeli officials said the plan to conquer Gaza City had been “approved”.
Thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee parts of Gaza City after Israel's troops began their ground assault on Wednesday, following days of intense bombing and artillery fire on the area.
Scotland’s First Minister said his SNP Government had “grave concerns” that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide and that the country’s latest offensive on Gaza is only going to “intensify the suffering”.
Following the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s orders to conquer Gaza City, Swinney has called on Keir Starmer to recall the UK Parliament immediately to hold the Israeli government to account.
“The international community cannot look away from this – there must be a concerted global effort to put a stop to Israel’s action, secure a ceasefire and hold Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government to account,” Swinney said.
“Prime Minister Keir Starmer needs to recall the UK Parliament immediately so the toughest and most severe sanctions available can be imposed on Israel, and all UK arms sales to Israel ended.
“Every ounce of international influence the UK may have must be used towards putting an end to Israel’s assault.”
An Israeli military spokesperson said on Wednesday that troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas of Gaza City to lay the groundwork for the offensive.
Around 60,000 Israeli reservists have also been called up for the beginning of September to free up active-duty personnel for the operation, with plans to extend the service of 20,000 additional reservists who are already on active duty.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are expected to be ordered to evacuate and head to southern Gaza following the ground assault.
Swinney has condemned Israel’s escalation of the war on Gaza and said that Wednesday’s actions will lead to more innocent Palestinians dying.
He said: “This latest action by Israel is an outrageous and unacceptable escalation, which must be a further wake-up call to the international community. We must see serious action to hold Israel to account for this unjustifiable brutality and inhumanity.
“Let us be clear in what the actions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will cause today. More innocent Palestinians are going to die, what was already an intolerable level of human suffering will get worse, and we are getting even further away from securing a peace.
“I have made clear our grave concerns that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide and today’s offensive is only going to intensify the suffering we are seeing.”
Since October 7 2023, more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed and 156,230 wounded by the Israeli military.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said further displacement and an intensification of hostilities “risk worsening an already catastrophic situation” for Gaza's 2.1 million population.
