Gaza suffering has reached 'unimaginable' levels, say 26 foreign ministers

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached "unimaginable levels", Britain, Canada, Australia and several of their European allies said on Tuesday, calling on Israel to allow unrestricted aid into the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

"Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation," the foreign ministers of 24 countries said in a joint statement.

"We call on the government of Israel to provide authorisation for all international NGO (non-governmental organisations) aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating," the statement said.

"All crossings and routes must be used to allow a flood of aid into Gaza, including food, nutrition supplies, shelter, fuel, clean water, medicine and medical equipment."

Israel has denied responsibility for hunger spreading in Gaza, accusing Hamas militants of stealing aid shipments, which Hamas denies. However, in response to a rising international uproar, Israel late last month announced steps to let more aid into the enclave, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas and announcing protected routes for aid convoys.

Western capitals, however, say much more aid is needed and some countries have started airdrops with aid over Gaza.

The statement was signed by the foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain.

The EU later on Tuesday sent an updated statement to include EU member states Italy and Latvia as signatories of the statement.

The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, and two other members of the European Commission also signed the statement.

Some EU member countries, including Germany and Hungary, did not sign it.

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar from London, Lili Bayer and Charlotte Van Campenhout from Brussels; editing by William James and Mark Heinrich)