Ed Miliband blasted by Israeli government over Gaza 'stories' as critics call out 'Jew hate'

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The US Ambassador to Israel described the Foreign Secretary's accounts as 'Jew hate' that 'knows no boundaries'

The Israeli government has hit out at Ed Miliband over a video describing stories he had heard from people in Gaza over medicine being blocked, which the department claim to be entirely fictitious.

The Foreign Secretary attended a meeting with people who had spent time on the ground in Gaza, describing what he had heard as "horrific".

He recalled hearing accounts of medicines being blocked, and "children dying while waiting for vital life-saving treatment".

He said: "When you hear that account of what is happening, you know that we as a UK government, as the Prime Minister has said, have got to act and act more decisively than we have."

However, the Israeli Foreign Ministry have issued a response to Mr Miliband, declaring his statements to be nothing more than "stories", and that no such action has been taken.

A spokesman for the department said: The British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband posts a video recounting 'stories' he was told about Gaza.

"If the Foreign Secretary were interested in facts rather than stories, he would know that there are no restrictions whatsoever on the entry of medicines into the Gaza Strip, and that no medicines are being blocked.

"[He would know] that 22,500 tons of medical supplies have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began, and that Gazans exit the Strip for medical treatment, including 200 who did so in just the last two weeks.

"And of course, the British Foreign Secretary is well aware of all this, as the UK is a member of the International Gaza Support Center, which facilitates the delivery of medical aid to the Gaza Strip.

"But apparently, facts matter less when making a video for a political audience."

Despite the dismissal by the Israeli government, many reports direct from Gaza detail how thousands of people are at heightened risk of death and severe illness, as Israeli authorities restrict the entry of engine oil and spare parts.

These supplies are needed to keep hospital generators, ambulances, water pumps and water trucks running, which critics argue represents a "systematic destruction of the necessities for life".

“What we are witnessing in Gaza is not a series of isolated shortages, it is a policy of attrition by design,” said Filipe Ribeiro, Médecins Sans Frontières head of mission in Palestine.

“For more than two years, we have observed Israel's policies impairing the entry of supplies. These policies do not merely delay aid; they dismantle the very systems people rely on to survive."

He added: “Today it is engine oil and spare parts. Tomorrow it will be something else."

Responding to Ed Miliband's response to the crisis, Mike Huckabee, US Ambassador to Israel, said: "The Brits have lost it. The Jew hate of their government knows no boundaries and knows no facts."

Ironically, Ed Miliband is himself Jewish, born to Polish-Jewish refugee parents Ralph Miliband and Marion Kozak, who fled Nazi persecution during World War II before settling in Britain.

The Foreign Secretary describes himself as culturally Jewish rather than religiously observant, having grown up athiest.

He became the first leader of the Labour Party of Jewish descent in 2010, and has frequently spoken about his family's background as Holocaust refugees throughout his political career.