Brown offers British naval help to monitor Gaza

January 18, 2009

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday said that Britain had offered naval resources that could be used to help prevent arms smuggling into Gaza as part of an arrangement to end the fighting there. Brown told reporters that France and Germany had made similar offers in a bid to curtail the bloodshed. "The Israelis, Egyptians and Palestinian Authority know this offer is available," he said. "I think this may make it easier for people to come to a cease-fire." Brown said that if a cease-fire is reached, Britain has people ready to enter Gaza to provide humanitarian aid to help relieve the obvious suffering. "Britain will not be found lacking in the support we can give," he said. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's office released a statement indicating that she, Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have sent letters to Israeli and Egyptian leaders expressing a willingness to take a series of concrete measures to combat arms smuggling.