Britain ups Gaza aid ahead of donor conference

Britain will provide an additional 19 million pounds ($24 million) in humanitarian aid to Gaza, the international development minister said Monday, calling for Israel to give greater access ahead of a key conference on the conflict.

"Gazans are in desperate need of food, and shelter with the onset of winter," the minister, Anneliese Dodds, said in a statement as she headed for a three-day visit to the region, including an international conference in Cairo Monday on the Gaza Strip's aid needs.

"The Cairo conference will be an opportunity to get leading voices in one room and put forward real-world solutions to the humanitarian crisis," she added.

"Israel must immediately act to ensure unimpeded aid access to Gaza."

Aid organisations accuse Israel of preventing trucks from entering Gaza in large enough numbers to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn territory.

The new UK funding will be split into 12 million pounds for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP), and seven million pounds for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the statement said.

UNRWA announced Sunday it had halted the delivery of aid through the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza because of safety fears, saying the situation had become "impossible".

Britain has committed to spending a total of 99 million pounds this year in humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories, the government said.

After Dodds's Cairo stop, the minister is to travel to the Palestinian territories and Israel.

Islamist militant group Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the death of 1,207 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 44,429 in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.