Israel’s refusal to open up more humanitarian routes to allow aid into Gaza is holding back US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire deal, Britain’s Middle East minister has said.
Hamish Falconer said the failure to open crossings, including those from Jordan into the Israeli-occupied West Bank, means the plan cannot move on from phase one.
“More still needs to be done," he replied when asked by The National if Israel was doing enough to help ensure aid reaches the Palestinians. "We're clear that the crossings, which were clearly envisaged to be opened under the 20-point plan, remain unopened. That is a vital part of phase one [of the ceasefire deal] and we need to see progress on that immediately."
In a wide-ranging interview on the Middle East, he also raised the possibility that Houthi rebel group in Yemen could be smuggling high-grade weapons into Sudan and expressed frustration over the lack of progress with talks on Iran's nuclear programme.
Intransigent Israel
Following Britain's condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza, relations between the two countries are at a low point. Mr Falconer accused Israel of “an overly restrictive approach to aid”, saying that would "prevent the necessary materials getting in at the speed required”.
He welcomed a recent delivery of tents from the UK government, which can provide shelter for 12,000 people, and recognised that lorry deliveries were “considerably up”. However, he said there was “much more that needs to be done”, particularly as the crossings at Rafah and Allenby Bridge remain closed, as do other border points.
“It is vital that we get all the aid in,” he said. “The commitment in the 20-point plan was absolutely clear on how that needs to be done.”
While relations with Israel are frosty, Mr Falconer said dialogue was continuing and that he had also “discussed these issues intensively” with his counterpart Lana Nusseibeh, UAE Minister of State.
The British government has also announced it will match “pound for pound” new donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee's Middle East appeal over the winter and give an extra £3 million ($4 million) to charities helping people in Gaza.
Houthi arms
Asked about links between the Houthis in Yemen and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), he raised the importance of support for the Yemeni Coast Guard. He visited the coastguard during a trip last month and was shown significant caches of weapons that had been seized.
It is believed weapons have been exchanged across the Red Sea by the SAF and Houthis, although Mr Falconer would not be drawn on where the seized arms were thought to be heading.
“That high-tech equipment, that could be used very much for military purposes, I can't tell you to whom it was intended to be delivered, but there clearly is a very significant problem in the area of advanced weaponry travelling across the Red Sea,” he said.
Britain has spent £3 million helping to refurbish coastguard ships including the Aden, the long-range patrol vessel that was used in the seizure of the weapons. Mr Falconer, who was formerly a senior Foreign Office official, said he was also “very concerned” about Yemen’s food security situation, having seen “the state of malnutrition in the very small babies” in a refugee camp.
He called on the Houthis to “stop disrupting that aid operation” and to allow UN goods through in the areas they control. “It clearly remains a very delicate situation, both on a humanitarian and a security basis,” he said.
With numbers of container vessels going through the Suez Canal still down by almost half since the Houthis began attacking ships in 2023, he said it is “absolutely vital” to the global economy for them to return. But he added that the Houthis have “proven utterly irresponsible” and that the Red Sea returning to normality would have to “involve a change of behaviour” from them.
Syria’s opportunity
Mr Falconer said he views the end of the Assad regime in Syria as a “real opportunity” for the country to move on from “a deeply traumatising period”. He said he and UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper had a “frank exchange” with Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani last month.
“We are clear the UK wants to help make the new Syria a success, help turn the page after what has been a deeply dramatic period,” he said. “We do see a real opportunity for the Syrian people in the changed circumstances in Syria.”
Talking to Tehran
Relations with Iran remain delicate, heightened by Iran's continued covert operations in Britain during which a plot to blow up the Israeli embassy unravelled, as did plots to attack Iran-linked journalists.
“The threat posed on the streets of the UK by Iranian operatives will continue to be the top of our priority list,” he said.
Mr Falconer said the door was “certainly not closed to productive relations” and suggested there was a range of issues on which the two countries could collaborate due to their historical links.
He said it was still “not too late” for a diplomatic approach regarding Iran's nuclear programme, despite snapback sanctions being imposed on the regime over its failure to comply with the 2015 nuclear deal.
“It's absolutely vital that Iran gets back to the table to talk about its nuclear programme,” he said. “It has been a source of real frustration that we have not seen more progress on that front. It is not too late to have a diplomatic approach which can give confidence to the region and the world that there isn't nuclear proliferation going on in the Middle East.”
Given the recent offer for talks with the US, made via an interview with the Economist newspaper by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Mr Falconer disclosed that the UK was ready to support a diplomatic process. “But it has to be a real one with real teeth” and that was a “question that the Iranian government will need to consider”.
