U.K. says it is suspending free trade talks with Israel and announces sanctions over the West Bank

LONDON AP The British regime says it will suspend new free exchange negotiations with Israel and has leveled new sanctions targeting West Bank settlements as it criticizes sanctions military actions in Gaza Tuesday s actions came a day after the U K France and Canada condemned Israel s handling of the war in Gaza and its actions in the occupied West Bank THIS IS A URGENT NEWS UPDATE AP s earlier story follows below LONDON AP British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ramped up his criticism of Israel on Tuesday saying the level of suffering by children in Gaza was utterly intolerable and repeated his call for a ceasefire I want to put on record in contemporary times that we re horrified by the escalation from Israel Starmer narrated the U K s Parliament His brief remarks followed a scathing joint condemnation he issued Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that marked one of the the greater part major criticisms by close allies of Israel s handling of the war in Gaza and its actions in the occupied West Bank The three leaders threatened to take concrete actions if the cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not cease its renewed military offensive and significantly lift restrictions on humanitarian aid Netanyahu stated the message was a huge prize for Hamas Starmer repeated the trio s demand for a cease fire saying it was the only way to free the hostages Hamas still holds He also called for increased shipments of humanitarian aid into Gaza saying the basic quantity allowed by Israel is utterly inadequate We must coordinate our response because this war has gone on for far too long Starmer declared We cannot allow the people of Gaza to starve International pressure has been building on Israel following a month blockade of supplies into Gaza that led to famine warnings Even the United States a staunch ally of Israel has voiced concerns over the growing hunger predicament While Israel allowed trucks with baby food and desperately needed supplies to begin rolling into Gaza on Monday U N humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described the volume of aid a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed Israel initially received widespread international help to root out Hamas militants following the group s surprise attack that killed a few people mostly civilians on Oct and took captives But patience with Israel is wearing thin after more than Palestinian deaths mostly women and children according to Gaza s Strength Ministry which doesn t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count Israel s latest onslaught has killed more than people in current days local medical executives declared In latest weeks Macron intensified diplomatic efforts to put pressure on Israel urging a ceasefire and calling for lifting the blockade of humanitarian aid Last month Macron declared France should move toward recognizing a Palestinian state possibly in June when France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting an international conference about implementing a two-state method The comments came after a visit to Egypt during which he met with injured Palestinians at El Arish hospital Macron who has explained that recognizing Palestine is not a taboo for France last week suggested that revisiting the EU s cooperation agreements with Israel is on the table Tensions between France and Israel have escalated after Macron called for stopping arms deliveries for use in Gaza in an October radio interview prompting Netanyahu s strong criticism France also sought to impose a ban on Israeli defense companies to prevent them from exhibiting weapons at the Euronaval agreement exhibition Source