Rishi Sunak has increased his calls for humanitarian aid to Gaza, urging the restoration of water supplies where possible.
The prime minister said the UK supported “absolutely” Israel’s right to defend itself against the “murderous enemy” Hamas, and that Israel had a duty to restore its security and bring back its citizens being held hostage.
He also said the people of Gaza were “suffering terribly at the moment, with the casualty numbers climbing constantly”.
Writing in the Telegraph, Sunak said: “We need to see a stream of trucks rolling through that crossing to bring aid to the civilian population. We also need to see all water supplies to Gaza restored where physically possible.
“All sides should commit to the sanctity of UN installations, hospitals and shelters. We’re working intensively with international partners to ensure that British nationals currently trapped in Gaza are also able to leave through this crossing while aid enters.”
His comments show the UK stepping up calls for humanitarian needs to be met in the conflict, amid continuing signs that Israel could launch a ground offensive in Gaza.
Sunak said he had been clear with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, that “this must be done in line with international humanitarian law and taking every possible step to avoid harming civilians”.
Lisa Nandy, the shadow international development secretary, said Labour was calling for water supplies to be restored and aid delivered.
Speaking on Sky News, she said Labour supported Israel’s “right to self-defence and to return the hostages, and we support the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza, at what is a desperately, desperately critical, difficult time, where the world simply cannot afford to walk away”.
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said he expected Israel to strike in a “surgical” way but it was “entirely likely” that more civilian lives would be lost in Gaza.
“The real tragedy here is that Hamas, who started this war by committing those appalling barbaric atrocities in Israel, deliberately enmesh themselves with the civilian infrastructure in Gaza using Palestinians – innocent Palestinians – as hostages to their own political aims,” he said.
“And so it is entirely likely that more civilian lives will be lost in this appalling conflict. But we have to defend Israel’s right to secure its borders, to release the hostages and to bring a degree of security to their situation.
“What we need Israel to do is to surgically degrade and eradicate Hamas and their infrastructure in the Gaza Strip so that Palestinians can be free from Hamas, and Israel can have the security that it needs.”
He told Sky News that the UK was doing “everything we can” to support British nationals trapped in Gaza, although so far no one has been allowed to leave across the border to Egypt, with the Rafah crossing only opened for a limited amount of aid to flow to Palestinians.
Twenty aid trucks were allowed through the crossing from Egypt over the weekend, and about 200 are waiting to go into Gaza.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UK has warned that a “humanitarian catastrophe” is unfolding in Gaza. Husam Zomlot told Sky News: “Carnage, horror, in every sense, families have to make choices of should they leave, should they stay. Families are thinking of rationing water with children, which child can sustain more. Oxfam, the UN are describing a situation that is simply unprecedented in recent history, and perhaps unprecedented period.”
