TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Tuesday that the UK is prepared to impose additional sanctions on Israel if a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is not achieved within weeks.
Lammy told the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that the government would "go further" in taking action against Israel if the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate.
"If there is not the ceasefire that we are all praying for in the coming weeks... will the government go further and take action against Israel?" asked Labour MP Alex Ballinger, as reported by Anadolu Agency.
"Yes, we will," Lammy replied.
Lammy's statement follows coordinated sanctions last month by the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway, targeting Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for what London described as "gross violations" of human rights in Gaza, The Independent reported.
The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes.
Despite mounting pressure from the UK, including from senior figures in the Labour Party and trade unions, Lammy refused to commit to a specific deadline for officially recognizing a Palestinian state.
"I'm not going to stick to a calendar just because it's convenient for a short speech," he said, adding that ceasefire negotiations are complex and any recognition move must be judged on whether it brings meaningful change on the ground.
He noted that despite growing international recognition of Palestine, including by countries like Ireland, Spain, and Norway, "what we're seeing is further annexation in the West Bank," demonstrating that recognition alone hasn't advanced peace efforts.
Meanwhile, as reported by Al Jazeera, US President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House for the second time in 24 hours. The two discussed the possibility of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
The unscheduled talks on Tuesday night lasted just over an hour, were closed to the media, and came as Israeli forces killed at least 95 Palestinians in Gaza.
The two men also met for several hours over dinner at the White House on Monday, during Netanyahu's third visit to the US since Trump began his second term on January 20.
Ahead of Tuesday's talks, Trump said he would speak with Netanyahu "almost exclusively" about Gaza.
"We have to solve it. Gaza is—it's a tragedy, and he wants to solve it, and I want to solve it, and I think the other side wants it too," he said.
At least 57,575 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
A ministry statement said that 52 bodies had been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, while 262 people were injured, bringing the total number of injuries to 136,879 in the Israeli offensive.
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