“We must respect these decisions, but we deeply regret them — especially in light of the responsibility the cabinet bears in this caretaker phase,” he said.
The populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) party, one of the coalition’s two remaining partners along with the liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), fumed over the NSC’s departure, saying it left the Netherlands “rudderless.”
“While the talks were still ongoing, they walked away, leaving chaos in their wake,” the BBB party said in a statement.
Veldkamp, a former ambassador to Israel, resigned the same day a United Nations-backed food security body declared that there is a famine in Gaza and amid Israel’s renewed military offensive in the besieged coastal strip.
The health ministry in Gaza, which is under the Hamas-run government, estimates more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its assault on Gaza immediately following Hamas’ attack on Israel Oct. 7, 2023. U.N. agencies and independent experts consider the ministry’s casualty records as generally reliable.