A summary of the day's developments
The UK has suspended trade deal negotiations with Israel in protest at Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s blockade of humanitarian aid entering Gaza
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, described the blockade as “morally wrong”, “unjustifiable” and an “affront to the values of the British people”
Earlier the prime minister, Keir Starmer, said “we’re horrified by the escalation from Israel” in the region and reiterated calls for a ceasefire, hostage release, and the delivery of humanitarian aid
Lammy said the Conservative frontbench was “refusing to confront the appalling reality of what is happening in Gaza and what the Netanyahu government is doing”.
Starmer visited a branch of Lidl with chancellor Rachel Reeves in the afternoon to promote what they say are the merits of the country’s new trade partnership with the EU
In the Commons, Starmer heralded a “hat-trick of deals” with India, the US and the EU, telling MPs they will protect thousands of jobs and save businesses hundreds of millions of pounds
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch described it as a “bad deal” and an “own goal” claimed that “when Labour negotiates, Britain loses”
UK-Israeli relations have plunged to their worst state for decades after the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, suspended negotiations over a new free trade deal saying Israel’s cabinet ministers’ calls to “purify Gaza” by expelling Palestinians were repellant, monstrous and extremist, writes Patrick Wintour and Emma Graham-Harrison.
He also said wider talks about a future bilateral strategic roadmap with Israel were also being reviewed.
Lammy condemned Israel’s refusal to allow thousands of aid trucks access to starving Palestinians and said Israel’s treatment of Palestinians was “an affront to the values of the British people” and “incompatible with the principles that underpin the UK-Israeli bilateral relationship”.
Unleashing language he has not used since the latest Gaza conflict began, Lammy said the further planned major military incursion into Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces was “morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and utterly counter-productive”.
Sounding genuinely outraged with the government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Lammy said: “We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict. Netanyahu’s government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the Strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”
Israel’s foreign ministry accused the UK of having an anti-Israel obsession.
Responding to the suspension of trade talks, Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said: “If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy – that is its own prerogative.”
