UK envoy Simon Walters calls for comprehensive Gaza deal to free hostages and end war

A deal is needed that would free all the 101 hostages in Gaza at once, end the war, and provide a comprehensive solution for the enclave moving forward, British Ambassador Simon Walters said on Tuesday.

“We need to be honest; the phased approach of the last year is very unlikely to work,” Walters said during a conversation with reporters in his Ramat Gan home. He reflected on the failed May 31 three-phase deal that never came to fruition, explaining that a new approach was necessary.

“We need instead a comprehensive deal which encompasses not just a ceasefire and hostage release, but also a plan for the future for Gaza,” he said. Negotiations, he stressed, are the only way to return the captives.

Great Britain is calling for hostage talks to be “accelerated and for a deal to be done as fast as possible, to end the fighting and to get the hostages out.” It was concerning for him, Walters said, “to hear members of the Israeli government continue to call for the war to go on endlessly, for the fighting to continue.”

The cost of continuing the fighting is high, he said, and won’t “achieve much militarily.”

“It is going to lead to more deaths of soldiers, of Palestinians, more destruction of property, and the bottom line is that it is not going to be possible to eliminate Hamas through force on its own,” Walters said. The envoy, who has been at his post for over a year, said that most of his career has been spent in conflict and war zones.

Accelerated hostage talks

“I was attached to the British army when we went into Iraq in 2003-2004, I have worked on the Syria conflict, countered ISIS efforts, I’ve lived in Yemen, I’ve seen the conflict with the Houthis, I have worked in Afghanistan.“So, I have plenty of experience on this; we know that defeating guerrilla groups, terrorists, and insurgents when they are embedded in a population is impossible if you only use military force,” he said.

Military force works well only when combined with politics. “That is what we need now. I hear people calling for the continuation of the war until Hamas is destroyed, and I think they are kidding themselves.

“They are imagining an outcome that will never come. So it is essential that we would recognize that and focus our efforts on getting a hostage deal because it is the only way we can get them home,” he stressed.Walters noted that he was wearing a yellow ribbon pin, as he always does, which symbolizes the call for the captives to be freed.

“It is appalling that there are hostages held in the tunnels,” he said. The connection for his country is personal, Walters said.

He recalled that one of the hostages, Emily Damari, held British citizenship. In addition, he said, there are five hostages with strong links to Great Britain, three who are alive in captivity and another two who are dead.“We continue to do everything that we can through our diplomatic leverage to secure their release, and we continually supported the hostages talks and the efforts by the US, the Egyptians, and the Qatari negotiators and call on the parties to return to the negotiating table,” he said.

“Ensuring the release of all hostages remains a number one priority for this government,” Walters stressed. As a sign of how seriously his country views the issue, the British Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have personally met with family members.

“I have gotten to know many of the families since October 7,” Walters said as he called on Hamas to free the hostages, noting that ultimately it was the one responsible for their continued captivity.

“Hamas could end this suffering by agreeing to a ceasefire and releasing all hostages immediately and unconditionally. We must be clear that the responsibility for the attacks of October 7 and for the kidnapping of the hostages belongs entirely to Hamas,” he said.

DESPITE HIS criticism of the Israeli government, Walters clarified that his country was a “steadfast friend of Israel and the Israeli people,” including acting militarily to help defend the Jewish state.

Great Britain is the only country aside from the US that has “been prepared to use military force against the Houthis” in an attempt to “degrade their missile capabilities in the area,” he said.

He also referenced Great Britain’s participation in the five-army coalition that has twice defended Israel from Iranian missile attacks, once in April and again in October. On April 10, the Royal Air Force was in the air alongside the Israel Air Force and the US Air Force, shooting down incoming drones, and it did so again on October 1.

He stressed that the British army would continue to help the Jewish state in this way and “is prepared to put its own aircraft and its own personnel in harm’s way to defend Israel.”

He also referenced the United Kingdom’s decision, despite its commitment to Israel’s defense, to suspend some 30 arms contracts of supplies that could be used in Gaza. Those sales represent a fraction of the country’s 350 military licenses with Israel.

Walters said that all British arms contracts are subject to regular review processes governed by the country’s domestic laws.

“There has been a lot of misunderstanding about this. The British government is legally forced to conduct a review of all weapons sales to every country that it sells weapons to,” he said.

“The threshold for suspending sales is actually very low; it’s not about actual violation of international law. The threshold is merely a risk of violations of international law, and so, that risk is evidently present here,” he said.

Looking to the West Bank, he said, the British government is concerned about the instability in that region, including extremist Israel civilian violence toward Palestinians as well as the “renewed talk of annexation, which we, of course, wholeheartedly reject as an illegal proposal.”

The ongoing olive harvest has highlighted the issue of extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.“Since October 1, there have been 203 incidents involving settlers directly related to the olive harvest in 79 communities across the West Bank, the majority of which [151 incidents] resulted in casualties or property damage.“In this period, 69 Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers and more than 1,600 mostly olive trees destroyed.

Many crops and harvesting tools have been stolen,” he said. Walters said that the data on the number of incidents was arrived at through research by British diplomatic staff based on multiple sources.

In an attempt to discourage Israeli extremism, Walters said, the British government has sanctioned several extremist organizations and entities that have participated in, facilitated, or incited human rights abuses.

“Our regime is used when there is insufficient accountability in the country’s own judicial system,” he said.

“Our support for the Israeli people is unwavering, but the country is being let down by extremists, including those in government. Extremists are undermining support for Israel when Israel most needs it; they are not acting in Israel’s interest. They are doing huge damage,” he said.