The bodies were still warm when the Foreign Office issued its plea. Eleven dead in Gaza City this morning, including three children, according to sources on the ground. Israeli air strikes hit a residential block in the al-Daraj neighbourhood, collapsing a building where families were sleeping. The UK government, through a spokesperson, called for "immediate de-escalation" and "restraint from all parties." But words, as we know, are cheap. The bombs are not.
I've seen this play before. The cycle is predictable: a strike, a condemnation, another strike. The real question is what happens behind closed doors. Who is signing off on the arms deals that keep the bombs falling? My sources tell me the Foreign Office has been quietly reviewing export licences for months, but refuses to suspend them. Meanwhile, the death toll climbs. The UN says 42 Palestinians have been killed in the past week alone, with hundreds wounded. The Israeli military claims the strikes target militant infrastructure. But a bomb doesn't distinguish between a command centre and a kitchen.
Let's follow the money. The UK approved £1.2 billion in arms sales to Israel in the last financial year, documents uncovered by this desk show. That's taxpayer money, your money, going into the very systems that levelled that building. The Foreign Secretary says he's "deeply concerned." Concern doesn't rebuild homes. Concern doesn't bring back children. The Prime Minister is reportedly "monitoring the situation." Monitoring is not the same as acting.
On the ground, the hospitals are overwhelmed. Doctors without Borders reports that emergency rooms have run out of supplies for the third time this month. The al-Shifa morgue is overflowing. A source there told me they are using ice cream trucks to store bodies. That's not a metaphor. That's a fact.
The UK's call for de-escalation rings hollow when the weapons used in the escalation are partly British-made. I've seen the paperwork. I've talked to the whistleblowers. The government knows. The question is whether they care. The answer, judging by the silence, is no.
In Gaza City, the survivors are digging through rubble with their bare hands. They don't have time for press releases. They don't have time for diplomacy. They have time only to gather the dead. And the cycle continues.
