The international community is moving towards a potential peace agreement for Gaza amid an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, according to the Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper. Her comments followed an address at the UN General Assembly in New York, where she criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allowing children in Gaza to die of starvation. Mr Netanyahu faced a walkout by diplomats and world leaders after insisting that Israel must “finish the job” of eliminating Hamas. Ms Cooper has since urged the Israeli government to “urgently change course”, stressing that global momentum is building around a desire to end the conflict.
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Speaking to The Guardian, Ms Cooper said she felt a “huge consensus” was developing among international leaders. She argued there could be no lasting military solution, warning that Israel’s security would not be strengthened by further offensives in Gaza City. Instead, she insisted that security for both Israelis and Palestinians could only be achieved through a political resolution that addresses the scale of the humanitarian emergency. Her comments came shortly after US President Donald Trump suggested that negotiations for a Gaza deal were nearing completion.
Acknowledging the human suffering, Ms Cooper said that political language often fails to capture the reality of the crisis. “Every time we talk about humanitarian issues the words feel hollow,” she said, adding that the situation is best understood through the “screams and pain of a toddler”. She stressed the urgent need to translate the current sense of international distress into a meaningful peace process. Reports earlier this week suggested that former Prime Minister Tony Blair could take a role in a transitional body to oversee reconstruction in Gaza, a proposal that would be controversial given his role in the Iraq War.
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The scale of the devastation remains stark. More than 68,000 people have been killed in Gaza, the majority of them civilians including over 20,000 children, since the Israeli military campaign began. The United Nations has accused Israel of committing genocide following a two-year investigation, though Israel has dismissed the findings as “false” and “distorted”. The war was triggered by Hamas’s 7 October attack, in which almost 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. While international talks continue, both sides remain far apart on a long-term settlement.
