
May 16, 2025
By | Esheru Kweku
Weapons delivered seamlessly for Israel to extinguish lives in Gaza but delivering food and aid remains mission impossible for the world most sophisticated militaries.
In the corridors of Whitehall, deals are struck, contracts signed, and shipments arranged with seamless precision. The UK has no trouble ensuring British manufactured arms reach Israel, enabling its military operations laser-like efficiency. Yet when it comes to delivering food, medicine, and clean water to a starving population in Gaza, suddenly the logistical hurdles become insurmountable, at least, according to the Prime Minister.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey challenges Starmer
At this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey directly confronted Keir Starmer on the crisis engulfing Gaza. He urged the government to work with President Donald Trump on recognising Palestine and, critically, ensuring that humanitarian aid reaches those trapped under siege. The response? A carefully packaged, diplomatic non-answer, one that underlined the selective urgency of the UK's foreign policy.
ED DAVEY OFFICIALLY CALLS FOR RECOGNISING PALESTINE ????????
— Bristol Young Liberals ???? (@uoblibdems) May 14, 2025
Liberal Democrat leader also urged ???????? Prime Minister Starmer to take a stronger stance against the reports of the humanitarian blockade against the Gaza Strip #PMQspic.twitter.com/H7Pz6dRrdu
A Tale of Two Supply Chains
The UK boasts a world-class defence industry, supplying weapons globally with clockwork efficiency. Military exports to Israel have continued unabated, facilitated by an established network of suppliers, bureaucratic approvals, and diplomatic backchannels. There is no 'red tape' too thick, no logistical challenge too great, when arms are being dispatched for use on the people of Gaza. Yet, when it comes to humanitarian aid, an obligation under international law, the UK suddenly finds itself tied in knots, unable to navigate the simplest of supply routes.
Children left to fend for themselves in a desperate bid to secure food on a daily basis in Gaza
For over 10 weeks, Israeli forces have blocked essential supplies from reaching Gaza, leaving two million people at risk of famine. Reports of children dying from starvation have trickled through, each one a haunting indictment of global inaction. But rather than treating this crisis with the same urgency afforded to military logistics, the UK drags its feet and turns its head away from the spectre-like images of skeletal children, as the UK hides behind diplomatic processes that never seem to yield results.
The UK's Complicity in Gaza's Suffering
The claim that securing aid access is a complex diplomatic challenge is a convenient excuse, not a reality. If weapons can be flown out with pinpoint accuracy, food and medical supplies should be just as easy to deliver. The government's inability, or unwillingness, to act decisively sends a clear message about where its priorities lie.
Britain has the resources, the logistical expertise, and the diplomatic influence to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Gaza. The fact that it does not speaks volumes. As famine spreads, every delay, every excuse, every empty statement only deepens the suffering of innocent people. Until the UK treats the delivery of food and medicine with the same urgency as arms shipments, it will remain complicit in one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of our time.