UK summons Israeli ambassador over West Bank settlement expansion
The Foreign Office has summoned Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely following the approval of a widely condemned settlement plan in the occupied West Bank.
Listen to this article
The proposed settlement project, approved by the Israeli government on Wednesday, would effectively cut the occupied West Bank in two.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the E1 settlement plan, which would sever one of the last geographical links between the northern and southern West Bank, would “mark a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution”.
On Thursday, Mr Lammy and other foreign ministers from Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan issued a joint statement again condemning the E1 plan, saying it would bring “no benefits to the Israeli people” and “risks undermining security and fuels further violence and instability”.
Read more: Palestinians flee Gaza City as Israel launches ground assault
They added: “The Government of Israel still has an opportunity to stop the E1 plan going any further. We encourage them to urgently retract this plan.”
It comes as Israel accelerated its widely condemned plan to fully occupy all of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians continued to flee their homes in Gaza City on Thursday after the Israeli military began the first stages of its latest assault.
After days of ferocious bombing and artillery fire, IDF troops have now established a foothold on the outskirts of the city - which is home to more than a million Palestinians.
It means hundreds and thousands of residents will be ordered to evacuate the city and head to shelters in southern Gaza.
Israel's defence minister approved the plan to expand its military offensive, which has already killed at least 60,000 people, to Gaza City on Tuesday, a move which has been widely condemned by its allies.
But the Israeli government says the offensive was necessary to "remove Hamas", as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked to "shorten the timelines" for seizing what he described as "the last terror strongholds" in Gaza.
Earlier, Israel confirmed plans to call up 60,000 reservists ahead of the offensive.
The UN warned the displacement of more Palestinians would have "horrific humanitarian impacts" for a population on the verge of mass hunger and famine.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu's office released a five-step plan detailing how it intends to end the fighting in Gaza by taking full control of the region.
"The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones," the statement read, going on to detail Israel's "principles for ending the war."
"An absolute majority of Cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan presented to the Cabinet would not achieve the defeat of Hamas or the return of the abductees," the statement continued.