Before the Security Council convenes, Australia and Britain call for an urgent truce in the Gaza Strip

Before the Security Council convenes, Australia and Britain call for an urgent truce in the Gaza Strip

The United Kingdom and Australia called on Friday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to allow humanitarian aid to arrive to protect civilians in the Strip.

The Foreign and Defense Ministers of Australia and the United Kingdom stressed on Friday the necessity of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, demanding the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Strip.

In a joint statement at the conclusion of a meeting in Adelaide, South Australia, the ministers stressed "the need for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to protect civilians on both sides and allow the delivery of essential humanitarian aid."

The statement comes at a time when the UN Security Council, of which the United Kingdom is a member, is preparing to vote on Friday on a draft US resolution that includes an “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip.

On a number of previous occasions, the United States used its veto power against several Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire.

Indirect negotiations are continuing in Doha between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar and Egypt and with the participation of the United States, to reach a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal, in light of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Israel holds at least 9,100 Palestinian prisoners in its prisons, while it is estimated that there are about 134 Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, 70% of whom Hamas announced were killed in random Israeli raids.

The war on Gaza left tens of thousands of civilians martyred and injured, most of them children and women, and a famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly, according to Palestinian and UN data.