UK calls Israel an 'occupying power' as Cameron meets Netanyahu rival Gantz

Calling Israel an "occupying power" in Gaza, British Foreign Minister David Cameron has said he pressed Tel Aviv to increase the aid flow to the besieged enclave, which is suffering a dire humanitarian crisis after five months of war.

"The UK supports Israel's right to self-defence. But as the occupying power in Gaza, Israel has a legal responsibility to ensure aid is available for civilians," Cameron said on Wednesday.

"That responsibility has consequences, including when we as the UK assess whether Israel is compliant with international humanitarian law."

The United Nations has warned Palestinians in Gaza are nearing famine conditions amid critical shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine sparked by an Israeli siege and brutal invasion.

"We are still not seeing improvements on the ground. This must change," Cameron said he told Israeli war cabinet member and Netanyahu rival Benny Gantz during a meeting.

Cameron also told Gantz the UK was "deeply concerned" about the prospect of an Israeli invasion in Rafah, Gaza's southernmost town on the Egyptian border packed with displaced people living in crowded and unsanitary conditions.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Cameron said Gaza needed an "immediate humanitarian pause", increased capacity for aid distribution, including through land and sea routes, and an expansion of the type of humanitarian assistance allowed, including shelter and infrastructure repair.

Israel's 'genocide' in Gaza

Gantz, a political rival to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, heard a similar message when he met US Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington and other officials on Monday.

The meeting with Gantz, a centrist former military chief, has underscored growing frustration from the White House at the way Netanyahu's far-right government is pursuing the war, which has left tens of thousands of dead and created a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Gantz's US visit was criticised by Doudi Amsellem, Israel's minister of regional cooperation, in a post on social media platform X that said: "Mr. Gantz, your entry into government was intended to create unity at a time of emergency, not to be a Trojan horse."

Cameron's meeting with Gantz came a day after he told members of the House of Lords that people in Gaza "are dying of hunger" and Israel must let in more humanitarian aid.

Some 1.5 million Palestinians previously displaced by Israel's war on Gaza are holed up in Rafah, seeking refuge from hostilities.

Israel's reported plans for an invasion on the city have sounded international alarm bells, with many countries urging restraint or cancelation of the invasion.

Israel has killed at least 30,717 people, mostly children and women, and wounded 72,156 in besieged Gaza.

The Israeli war has pushed 85 percent of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 percent of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.