Rishi Sunak held talks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu today with hopes rising that desperately needed aid will be allowed into Gaza ahead of a looming ground invasion.
Shortly after arriving in Tel Aviv, Mr Sunak stressed his “solidarity with Israeli people who have suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism” after more than 1,400 people were slaughtered by Hamas on October 7.
During a two-day trip, the Prime Minister was also set to meet other leaders in the Middle East. He was expected to highlight the need to “avoid further dangerous escalation”, saying that “too many lives have been lost”.
The death toll in Gaza, which Israel is targeting with waves of air strikes, was reported to have already risen above 3,000. Mr Sunak’s visit comes after the US president was in Israel yesterday on a diplomatic mission to prevent fighting from spiralling into a larger crisis.
Joe Biden gave “steadfast” backing to Israel but also warned against being “consumed by” rage and making the same “mistakes” the US did after the September 11 attacks in 2001. The president’s trip appeared to herald a breakthrough, with Mr Netanyahu’s office announcing it had approved a request from Mr Biden to allow Egypt to deliver limited quantities of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, where water and food are becoming scarce.
America has blamed Israel’s enemies for the slaughter of hundreds of people at a hospital in Gaza, which Israel says was caused by a misfiring rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which the latter denies.
The British Government said it was carrying out its own investigation and had by mid-morning not announced any findings. Hamas blames Israel. In other developments:
- Around 20 aid trucks were expected to reach Gaza in the coming days through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, under plans pushed by Mr Biden. But this is far fewer than the 100 per day that UN aid chief Martin Griffiths says is needed.
- The number of hostages seized by Hamas was put at 203, a small increase, according to the Israeli authorities.
- They also announced that Carmela Dan, 80, and her 12-year-old granddaughter Noya, who were taken hostage in Kibbutz Nir Oz, had been found dead.
- Israel pounded Gaza with more air strikes today including parts of the south, where it had advised civilians to head to ahead of an expected ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas.
Mr Sunak met Israeli president Isaac Herzog before the talks with Mr Netanyahu. In a statement, Downing Street said Mr Sunak had stressed Israel’s “right to self-defence in line with international law”, “the imperative need to avoid further escalation of violence in the region”, and that the two men had “agreed on the importance of getting urgent humanitarian support to ordinary Palestinians in Gaza”.
Mr Sunak thanked Mr Herzog for the support Israel has provided to British nationals caught up in the attacks, including to the families of those who have been taken hostage. Footage of the Hamas atrocities on October 7 have caused shock and revulsion around the world. But the plight of Gaza civilians, with around a million of the 2.3 million in the enclave having fled their homes, and the hundreds of deaths in the blast at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital, has enraged the Middle East, making it more difficult for Western leaders to rally Arab allies to prevent the war from spreading.
The hospital explosion, which was initially blamed by some media on Israel, happened on the eve of Mr Biden’s visit and scuppered his plans to meet Arab leaders, who called off a summit with him in Jordan.
There were angry scenes in Jordan and in the Lebanese capital Beirut, where protesters clashed with security forces near the US embassy yesterday. Hezbollah, a key ally of Hamas, also held a rally in the city. The Foreign Office advised Britons to “leave now while commercial options remain available”.
