Israel considers expelling British officials from postwar Gaza headquarters

{"text":[[{"start":10.48,"text":"Israel is considering expelling British and potentially other European officials from the US-led co-ordination centre for postwar Gaza in retaliation for criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies in the Palestinian territories."}],[{"start":24.24,"text":"Multiple people familiar with the matter said the Israeli government had in recent weeks discussed kicking the UK out of the International Gaza Support Center, the multinational headquarters established to monitor the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Similar measures had also been considered against Italy and Germany, some of the people said."}],[{"start":44,"text":"The IGSC, formerly known as the Civil-Military Coordination Center, is based in southern Israel and led by US military officers who work alongside the Israel Defense Forces and dozens of military and diplomatic officials from some 50 countries and international organisations."}],[{"start":60.32,"text":"Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar this week announced the expulsion of Dutch representatives from the centre because of the Netherlands’ move to boycott Israeli products from settlements in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights."}],[{"start":73.48,"text":"Israel also this year kicked out Spanish representatives from the IGSC, citing Madrid’s “obsessive anti-Israel bias”. Announcing the move against the Netherlands, Sa’ar said: “Israel will not allow measures to be taken against it without a response.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":87.32,"text":"The prospect of expelling yet more European officials underscores how ties between Israel and its historic allies in the continent have dramatically deteriorated over the war in Gaza, settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and the massive expansion of settlements — which are illegal under international law — by Netanyahu’s government."}],[{"start":106.44,"text":"Prime Minister Andy Burnham has aimed to toughen the UK’s approach towards Israel, saying last month that he would seek to pressure the Israeli government through a potential ban on trade in goods from settlements."}],[{"start":117,"text":"The UK, Germany and Italy, along with nearly 20 other countries and the European Commission, also issued a joint letter last week slamming Israel’s plan to move ahead with construction tenders for the E-1 settlement project near Jerusalem, which analysts warn could bisect the West Bank and prove fatal to prospects for a Palestinian state."}],[{"start":135.56,"text":"UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband added that “Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution”. Sa’ar retorted that the UK should not “lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic homeland”."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":151.04,"text":"According to two people familiar with the matter, any move to expel additional international representatives from the IGSC could require approval from the US-led Board of Peace, the international body set up by Donald Trump this year to oversee Gaza’s postwar transition and reconstruction, including the centre’s work."}],[{"start":169.4,"text":"But a third person disputed the need for Board of Peace approval and said Israel had the full sovereign right to decide who entered and stayed in its territory."}],[{"start":178.2,"text":"A spokesperson for the Board of Peace said: “We continue to engage our Israeli counterparts on ways to maintain and strengthen multilateral co-ordination and to accelerate progress on the president’s Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza.”"}],[{"start":191.44,"text":"The Israeli prime minister’s office and German officials declined to comment."}],[{"start":195.2,"text":"However, an Italian government official dismissed the idea that Italy and Germany would be ejected from the IGSC."}],[{"start":202.28,"text":"The centre is located in a massive three-storey warehouse in the industrial town of Kiryat Gat, outfitted with co-ordination cells, meeting rooms and modern equipment used to monitor aid flows and other developments inside Gaza."}],[{"start":215.36,"text":"Yet efforts to push ahead with the US-brokered ceasefire agreement — which was struck in October — have stalled, according to multiple people familiar with the matter."}],[{"start":224.4,"text":"Israeli forces still occupy more than half of war-shattered Gaza and launch regular strikes into the remaining territory still controlled by Hamas. The Palestinian militant group, whose October 7 2023 attack triggered the devastating Israeli offensive, has yet to disarm and reconstruction has not started."}],[{"start":242.76,"text":"A renewed effort by Board of Peace officials this summer to secure Hamas’s disarmament and the IDF’s withdrawal has also faltered. Even a visit by senior US envoy Jared Kushner to the region last week for meetings with Hamas and Netanyahu failed to break the impasse, with several sources describing the four-hour meeting with the Israeli prime minister as having gone poorly."}],[{"start":263.44,"text":"British officials are sanguine about the prospect of being pushed out of the IGSC. One figure familiar with the situation said that Israel had already made an example of Spain and the Netherlands, and so it was logical to expect some “payback” for Britain’s hardening stance."}],[{"start":278.32,"text":"Over 140 MPs recently signed a letter pressing Burnham to go ahead with a ban on goods from settlements."}],[{"start":285.28,"text":"When asked for comment, one Israeli official said simply: “Israel has good relations with Germany and Italy.”"}],[{"start":290.52,"text":"Additional reporting by Andrew England in London and Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Berlin"}],[{"start":302.36,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1787812927_8539.mp3"}