Ed Miliband, Britain foreign secretary, arrives for a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street in London. AP
In a statement issued on Saturday, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband welcomed the announcement that Hamas would disarm, stressing that the focus must now shift to implementing the 2025 Trump 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza in full, including the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the strip, and respect for the ceasefire by all parties.
Miliband described conditions facing Palestinians in Gaza as "appalling" and called on Israel to immediately end what he described as "unacceptable restrictions on aid" to allow more food, medicine and other assistance to reach those in need.
The statement came two days after US President Donald Trump announced an agreement on a roadmap for the phased disarmament of Hamas and other groups in Gaza, alongside the gradual withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the strip.
Hamas has said its agreement to disarm is conditional on Israel halting its attacks, withdrawing from Gaza and allowing the entry of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) and international forces, among other conditions.
Israel has not agreed to President Trump's new Gaza roadmap yet.
As the UK and other regional and European powers welcomed the new Gaza roadmap to end the war, intense Israeli strikes Friday night and Saturday in the strip killed at least seven people in the past 24 hours.
On Saturday, Miliband said the UK would continue working with its international partners to end the conflict in Gaza and what he described as the "terror threat from Hamas."
"We must reach a viable peace - with the Palestinian State and State of Israel living securely side-by-side," he said.
The UK foreign secretary also thanked the United States, Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt for their efforts in advancing the negotiations.
The UK, under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, recognized Palestinian statehood in 2025. In late 2024, Starmer suspended about 30 out of 350 arms export licenses to Israel covering items for use in Gaza, citing a clear risk of international law violations.
The July 2026 roadmap is designed to implement the second phase of the October 2025 ceasefire agreement between Tel Aviv and Hamas, brokered by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the US, which had remained largely frozen for nine months due to Israeli obstructionism and deadly breaches of the truce deal
The original ceasefire's first phase included exchanges of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners, expanded humanitarian access, and commitments aimed at reducing hostilities.
However, implementation of the second phase stalled as the Israeli side refused to start phase II, and subjected the strip to daily bombing and occupied more than 60 percent of its area.
Between October 2025 and late January 2026, Israel continued its genocidal war, violating the ceasefire hundreds of times, with estimates ranging from 730 to over 1,450 recorded violations by early 2026 through air attacks, artillery raids, shootings, and demolition operations inside Gaza.
Since the start of the ceasefire 10 months ago, daily Israeli bombing of the strip has killed nearly 1,300 Palestinians and injured hundreds more. Moreover, Israel has continued to impose restrictions on the entry of life-saving food and medicine at adequate levels to a population that faced the first-ever famine in Middle East history at the height of the genocidal war.
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