Israeli ambassador to UK says there is 'no humanitarian crisis' in Gaza

Tzipi Hotovely, the far-right Israeli ambassador to the UK, has denied that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 

Asked on Sky News what Israel thought of the situation in the beseiged enclave, she responded: "There is no humanitarian crisis."

"Israel is in charge of the safety of the Israelis. Hamas is in charge of the safety of the Palestinians," Hotovely said. "This is the time Hamas need to pay the price for its abuse, [for] killing innocent Israelis, and now preventing its own people to evacuate."

Hotovely is a hardline supporter of Israel’s illegal settlements and has previously described herself as "a religious right-winger".

In a 2015 speech on her appointment as deputy foreign minister, she rejected a two-state solution, saying: "This land is ours. All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologise for that."

In December 2020, she described the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians in the 1948 war - known as the Nakba ("catastrophe") in Arabic - as a "very popular Arab lie".