Israel, Huckabee slam UK foreign secretary over ‘false’ claims Israel blocking medicine to Gaza

The Israeli Foreign Ministry and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Saturday condemned British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband after he accused Israel of blocking life-saving medicines from reaching seriously ill children in Gaza.

Miliband, Britain’s top diplomat and a member of the country’s Jewish community, said he had been told “horrifying” stories about conditions in the Gaza Strip and appeared to accept allegations that Israel was preventing medicine from entering the territory.

"The stories I was told, about medicines being blocked from getting in, about children dying while waiting for vital, life-saving treatment...," Miliband wrote in a post on 𝕏.

“When you hear an account like that of what is happening, you understand that we, as the British government, as the prime minister has said, have to act, and act more decisively than we have until now,” he added, referring to the new left-leaning British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who in July pledged that London must “do more” to pressure Israel.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded on 𝕏 by accusing Miliband of disseminating false information about Israel and Gaza, and said there are no restrictions on bringing medicines into the Gaza Strip: “The British foreign secretary publishes a video in which he recounts ‘stories’ he was told about Gaza. Had the foreign secretary been interested in facts rather than stories, he would have known that there are no restrictions whatsoever on bringing medicines into the Gaza Strip, and that no medicine is being blocked."

The ministry detailed the delivery of medical equipment and aid to Gaza, stressing that "22,500 tons of medical supplies have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began."

"Gaza residents leave the Strip for medical treatment, including 200 who did so in the past two weeks alone. Of course, the British foreign secretary is well aware of all this, since Britain is a member of the international support center for Gaza, which assists in transferring medical aid into the Strip," the ministry continued.

“But apparently, facts matter less (when producing a video for a political audience),” the foreign ministry concluded.

Huckabee also condemned Miliband’s accusations against the Jewish state.

“The Brits have lost it. Their government’s Jew hatred knows no bounds and recognizes no facts,” he stated.

The dispute comes amid a broader deterioration in relations between the British government and Israel since the Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. While the British government initially supported Israel’s military campaign against Hamas, growing domestic opposition to Israel has contributed to increasingly critical positions from London.

In September 2025, the former Starmer government unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state despite strong U.S. and Israeli opposition.

Washington and Jerusalem argued that the diplomatic move constituted a de facto political reward for the Hamas massacre and terrorism against Israel.

The British government has also increasingly condemned Israeli military operations against Hamas, while Israel and its supporters have stressed that Hamas uses Gazan civilians as human shields in violation of international law.

Burnham, who recently replaced Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister, quickly signaled that he believed the previous government had not been sufficiently critical of Israel and alleged “war crimes” in Gaza.

“There’s increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed,” Burnham claimed in July.

While stopping short of accusing Israel of genocide, Burnham pledged to look “at further sanctions, both on those involved in violence in Gaza, but also looking at steps to ban trade in goods with illegal settlements.”