Ministers to attend Cobra meeting amid escalating situation in Gaza
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Ministers will attend a Cobra meeting later on the Middle East, after the Government joined calls for a humanitarian “pause” in the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said he would be chairing the meeting later, as global attention remains fixed on the crisis in Gaza.
It comes after Rishi Sunak said temporary breaks or “specific pauses” in the violence could allow British nationals and hostages to be freed and aid to be provided to the Gaza Strip.
The Government has continued to back Israel’s right to defend itself, with Defence Secretary Grant Shapps saying an expected ground invasion would fall under the country’s right to defend itself as long as the action targeted Hamas.
Israeli military said that troops and tanks launched a brief ground raid into northern Gaza overnight into Thursday, saying it was in order to prepare the battlefield” ahead of a widely expected ground invasion.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is continuing to pummel the small strip of land, which is home to more than two million Palestinians.
Mr Dowden said that the Cobra meeting would be “bringing together representatives from the relevant Government departments.
“This is the way of bringing different bits of Government together to understand what further steps we can do and to assess the current situation.
“We will discuss the hostages and the wider situation in the region and will also discuss securing humanitarian aid.
“It is about ensuring we have cross-governmental ministerial grip on this situation.”
The Government is continuing to resist calls for a ceasefire, with the backing for a humanitarian pause supported by Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer.
More than 80 MPs have urged the Government to call for a cessation of violence, as five UK nationals remain missing, some of whom are believed to be hostages in Gaza.
Mr Dowden would not be drawn on how long any such pause might last.
He told Times Radio that a pause would be “different to a ceasefire, which is a total cessation of hostilities, which I don’t think recognises properly the situation that Israel finds itself in, in respect of this attack from Hamas which has to be dealt with by Israel”.
