Rishi Sunak has said Israel has both a “right and duty” to “go after” Hamas after he arrived in Tel Aviv for a two-day visit to the Middle East.
The PM offered support for Israeli military action in response to the terror attack which saw more than 1,400 killed in talks with his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and president Isaac Herzog.
Appearing alongside Mr Netanyahu on Thursday, Mr Sunak said Israel has the right to “go after Hamas”, take back hostages and “strengthen your security for the long term”.
In rhetoric recalling Winston Churchill, the PM said he was “proud to stand here with you in Israel’s darkest hour as your friend”. He added: “We will stand with you in solidarity … And we also want you to win”.
Mr Sunak also told Mr Herzog that Britain stands in solidarity with “your right to defend yourself”, adding: “You have not just a right to do that, I think you have a duty to do that, to restore that security to your country.”
Despite offering strong backing for military action, Mr Sunak also said the response should be “in line with international law”, as well as pushing the Israeli leaders for “further progress” in allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza.
His visit comes after US president Joe Biden helped secure a deal which saw the first aid getting over the Egyptian border. Mr Biden also backed Israel by saying that the “other team” were behind the explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital.
Mr Biden said his claim that the explosion was “the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group” was based on “data from my Defence Department”. Mr Sunak has warned against a “rush to judgement” on the hospital explosion.
The PM told Israeli president Isaac Herzog his country has the “right to self-defence in line with international law” during their meeting on Thursday.
Rishi Sunak meets with Israeli president Isaac Herzog— (EPA)
Mr Sunak also expressed his hope “further progress” could be made on delivering crucial food, water and medicine. “Palestinians are victims of what Hamas has done – it’s important that we continue to provide humanitarian access,” Mr Sunak told Mr Herzog.
Appearing alongside Mr Netanyahu, Mr Sunak said: “I know that you are taking every precaution to avoid harming civilians in direct contrast to the terrorists of Hamas.”
Mr Netanyahu said Hamas were “the new Nazis” and “the worst monsters on the planet”, telling the British PM: “You fought the Nazis 80 years resolutely and the entire world supported your action”.
Mr Herzog said he was “extremely grateful” to Mr Sunak for visiting during Israel’s “darkest hour”. On the military action ahead, the Israeli president said people had been moved out of northern Gaza so Israel could “carry out our inherent right of self-defence”.
He also attacked the BBC for its refusal to call Hamas a terrorist group – accusing them of a “distortion of the facts”. Sitting alongside Mr Sunak, Mr Herzog said he accepted that “in modern democracies … you cannot intervene per se”.
Mr Sunak met with families whose loved ones have been held hostage by Hamas following the attacks on 7 October. The prime minister met families of two British nationals thought to have been kidnapped by Hamas, said No 10, but gave no more details in line with their wishes.
In a post on X, the PM was pictured hugging a unidentified woman. “To have a child taken from you is a parent’s worst nightmare,” he said – repeating his determination to see hostages released.
Mr Sunak will travel to Saudi Arabia and speak to Mohammed bin Salman later this afternoon when has finished his visit to Israel, No 10 announced. The PM’s official spokesman told reporters: “He is going to fly to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”
Asked about the Israeli president’s remarks on the BBC, No 10 said the broadcaster should reflect “very carefully” and learn lessons from the initial coverage of the hospital blast.
Sunak meets Netanyahu as he expresses support for military action to ‘restore security’— (EPA)
The PM’s arrival in Israel came as his security minister Tom Tugendhat said that the destruction of the terrorist organisation Hamas would be “a blessing”.
Calling Hamas “barbarous murderers”, the Tory minister offered backing for Israel’s planned military action in Gaza: “The destruction of Hamas would be a blessing not just for the Israeli people but for the Palestinian people ... I would love to see a world without Hamas in it.”
Mr Tugendhat said Hamas had “stolen” aid from civilians and “used the Palestinian people as their slaves to build tunnel complexes”. He also accused Iran of “pouring money” into Hamas “to kill Jews”.
Foreign secretary James Cleverly will visit Egypt, Turkey and Qatar in the coming days. He said he would “push for calm and stability, facilitate humanitarian access into Gaza and work together to secure the release of hostages”.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office has since updated its travel guidance to Lebanon, which shares a border with Israel, advising against all travel to the country and encouraging British nationals currently there to “leave now while commercial options remain available”.
In a speech at Mansion House on Wednesday night, King Charles III praised the tolerance of people in the UK as he urged the world to be more understanding of difference amid such “heart-breaking loss of life” in Israel and Gaza.
But Robin Simcox, the commissioner for countering extremism, said the rise was a sign that Britain was “very sick indeed” and should be a “wake-up call”.
In an article for The Times, he suggested the “normalisation” of anti-Israel extremism and antisemitism was because of a “failed policy mix of mass migration and multiculturalism”.
