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Benjamin Netanyahu was accused of slander and pursuing a war without end after he claimed the leaders of France, Canada and the UK were stoking antisemitism and siding with Hamas by demanding he end the two-month blockade of food and aid into Gaza.
In what has become an extraordinary standoff with some of Israel’s closest allies, Netanyahu appeared to deliberately raise the stakes on Thursday night by accusing his western critics of abandoning Israel in a war for its very existence.
Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, also sought to link the killing of two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington to the recent criticism mounted by European leaders.
He did not identify the countries, but the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, this week described some of Israel’s recent actions as extremist and abominable.
Netanyahu’s language was seen by his own government as a warranted riposte to a joint statement issued on Monday by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, and the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, calling on Israel to stop its offensive in Gaza that has already claimed 3,000 lives since it restarted in March.
In a post on X on Thursday evening, the Israeli prime minister said Hamas wanted to “destroy the Jewish state” and “annihilate the Jewish people”.
“I could never understand how this simple truth evades the leaders of France, Britain, Canada and others,” Netanyahu said.
“I say to President Macron, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer, when mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice.”
Netanyahu said the actions of those leaders were not “advancing peace” but “emboldening Hamas to continue fighting for ever”.
He went on to blame a recent claim by the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, that thousands of babies would die imminently in Gaza if Israel did not immediately let in aid for the attack in Washington. “A few days ago, a top UN official said that 14,000 Palestinian babies would die in 48 hours. You see many international institutions are complicit in spreading this lie,” he said.
“The press repeats it. The mob believed it. And a young couple is then brutally gunned down in Washington.”
UN officials had to retract Fletcher’s claim of deaths within 48 hours by saying he was referring to a UN technical report on food insecurity classification that said 14,100 severe cases of acute malnutrition could occur among children aged six to 59 months between April 2025 and March 2026. The report’s timeframe is one year and not two days, as mentioned by Fletcher.
In France, the foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, described Netanyahu’s allegations of antisemitism as defamatory. “Accusing of encouraging antisemitism or [supporting] Hamas whoever defends the two-state solution is absurd and slanderous,” Barrot said in a statement posted on X.
Barrot has also said that France supports Hamas being “disarmed and permanently excluded from the political future of Gaza”.
Britain’s armed forces minister, Luke Pollard, said: “I condemn fully the murders of the Israeli diplomats in the United States, as has the prime minister very publicly.
“But we’re also absolutely clear that the best way to bring peace to the Middle East is with an immediate ceasefire being restored in Gaza with Hamas releasing the hostages without any further delay, and with massive amounts of aid getting to the Palestinian people in Gaza – food, water and medical supplies being delivered – without delay.”
Germany, the country most loyal to Israel for historical reasons, said the amount of aid entering Gaza was “too little too late”. Germany voted against the EU’s plan to review its trade agreement with Israel to see if it is compliant with the EU’s human rights obligations.
Ministers in Arab states recognise Netanyahu is trying to shore up his political position by mounting attacks on the west, but warned he was causing irreparable damage to Israel’s global reputation and pursuing a dysfunctional war with no clear objectives.
They said the US by contrast had embarrassed Netanyahu by showing direct diplomacy could produce the release of hostages.
Israel says the block on aid is designed to isolate Hamas and permanently end its rule in Gaza. It says Hamas will not make concessions on its demand that Israel accept a permanent ceasefire.
The United Arab Emirates, the Arab country with the closest relations with Israel, was in direct negotiation with Israel trying to ensure that 100 trucks cross the border into Gaza with aid to be distributed by UN agencies such as the World Food Programme. In what is seen as a test of Netanyahu’s bona fides, the UAE wants the trucks to be allowed to cross the border on Saturday even though this is the Jewish Sabbath.
The UAE believes it is acting with the effective support of Donald Trump, who told leaders in the Gulf on his visit there that more aid must be allowed in for starving Palestinians. The UAE does not think the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the aid distribution mechanism being promoted by Israel as an alternative to the UN, will be ready to distribute aid for at least a month by which time many will have starved. A total of 119 aid trucks have entered Gaza since international pressure built on Netanyahu to allow aid into the territory.
Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, said on Friday that “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict”.
He said only a “teaspoon of aid” had entered Gaza “when a flood of assistance is required”, adding that 16,000 pallets of aid, enough to fill 9,000 trucks, were ready to enter the strip and accused Israel of imposing unnecessary obstacles to the distribution of aid. He said four-fifths of the territory had been made a no-go zone for the people of Gaza by being declared a military zone by the Israel Defense Forces.
An umbrella network of Palestinian aid groups said that so far only 119 aid trucks had entered Gaza since Israel eased its blockade on Monday. But distribution has been hampered by looting by groups of men, some of them armed, near the city of Khan Younis, the network said.
“They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger,” the network said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli airstrikes on security teams protecting the trucks.
A Hamas official said six members of a security team tasked with guarding the shipments were killed. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
The aid groups network said the amount of aid coming into Gaza was still inadequate and only included a narrow range of supplies. It said Israel’s agreement to allow trucks to enter the war-shattered territory was a “deceptive manoeuvre” to avoid international pressure calling for the lifting of the blockade.
