Yvette Cooper calls for more aid access to Gaza in address to Security Council

Yvette Cooper has urged Israeli authorities to “change course” and urgently increase aid access to Gaza, telling the UN that Palestinian children had already “frozen to death”.

Chairing a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, the Foreign Secretary called for immediate action to address the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza.

She said: “Families repeatedly displaced are spending this winter desperately seeking shelter amidst the rubble, without electricity, without water supplies or health care.

“Children have frozen to death and died while waiting for medical evacuations. This is unconscionable, and crucially, it is preventable.”

The Security Council session comes after Israel partially opened the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt at the start of February, although only a small number of people have been allowed to travel in either direction.

Ms Cooper welcomed the partial opening, but said Gaza’s needs could not be met without the lifting of more restrictions, particularly on medical equipment and basic shelter items.

She said: “Delays and restrictions cost lives.”

Meanwhile, Israel has sought to tighten its control of Palestine’s West Bank, leading some human rights groups to accuse it of planning to annex the territory.

Measures, approved by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, have expanded Israel’s enforcement authority over land use and planning in areas run by the Palestinian Authority.

Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and defence minister Israel Katz have said they would lift long-standing restrictions on land sales to Israeli Jews in the West Bank.

Arguing that “Palestine must be run by Palestinians”, Ms Cooper warned against the “destabilisation” of the West Bank and called for the preservation of a viable Palestinian state.

Pointing to an increase in settler violence and the “strangulation” of the Palestinian economy, she said: “This is deeply, deeply wrong and a clear contravention of the resolutions of this council, and counterproductive, it only makes the Israeli and Palestinian people less secure.”

The Foreign Secretary went on to criticise Israel’s moves to shut down the operations of international aid organisations in Gaza, including Save the Children, saying this “risked choking off essential access to people in desperate need”.

She said: “We need an urgent change in course. So I urge the authorities to urgently ensure that experienced and long-standing organisations can continue to operate.”

Ms Cooper concluded her address to the Security Council by restating the UK’s commitment to both a two-state solution and Israeli security.

She said: “A two-state solution can be the gateway to transform the region with normalisation, regional integration and peaceful coexistence.

“But security cannot be achieved by an indefinite or humiliating occupation that denies security and sovereignty to the Palestinian people.”

Ms Cooper travelled to New York on Wednesday at the start of the UK’s presidency of the Security Council.

Wednesday’s meeting on the Middle East was also attended by Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar and Palestinian representative Riyad Mansour.

It also heard from members of Palestinian and Israeli civil society groups for the first time since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023.