Gaza: Plaid Cymru calls on UK Government to impose sanctions on Israel

'UK has a moral and legal responsibility to ensure Israel complies with international law' - Ben Lake MP

Today (Tuesday 26 August) Plaid Cymru have called on the UK Government to impose a number of sanctions on Israel in order to put pressure on them to comply with international law.

Plaid Cymru has already called for the immediate and unconditional recognition of Palestine as well as the end to all arms sales to Israel.

However, the party's Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Ben Lake MP said that meaningful action by the UK Government was required in the form of economic sanctions against Israel.

Plaid Cymru is calling on the UK Government to:

• Suspend the UK's current trade agreement with Israel.

• Suspend the 2030 Roadmap for a closer UK-Israel partnership

• Sanctions on all individuals suspected of breaching international law

• Ban the import of goods from illegal Israeli Settlements in Palestine

Mr Lake had said that trade agreements that provide Israel with preferential treatment must be suspended as well as halting the 2030 roadmap for a closer partnership between the UK and Israel - a call that is backed by legal experts.

Although the UK's Foreign Secretary has already announced that sanctions would be imposed on two Israeli ministers along with some Israeli settlers, Plaid Cymru is pressing the UK Government to issue asset freezes and travel bans on senior members of the Israeli Government and military, responsible for the incitement of genocide in Gaza and for the maintenance and entrenchment of Israel's occupation in Palestine.

A double Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital Sunday killed 20 people, including journalists and health workers.

On Friday, the Secretary-General of the United Nations called the confirmed famine in Gaza City and surrounding areas a "failure of humanity."

Antonio Guterres described the crisis as a "man-made disaster" after a UN-backed body raised parts of the territory to Phase 5 - the highest level of food insecurity.

Plaid Cymru Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Ben Lake MP said:

"The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is shocking and entirely preventable. Famine has been declared by UN experts, yet Israel is failing to allow sufficient food and medical supplies to flow into Gaza, putting hundreds of thousands of lives at risk.

"The UK Government must take meaningful action to prevent the weaponisation of food, and should impose sanctions on the Israeli government. Trade agreements providing preferential treatment to Israel should be suspended, and the UK Government should waste no time in halting the 2030 roadmap for closer UK-Israel ties, banning goods from illegal settlements, and ending all arms sales.

"We also call for targeted sanctions on individuals inciting violence towards civilians and breaches of international law. The UK has a moral and legal responsibility to ensure Israel complies with international law, and urgent action is needed to prevent further humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza."