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Watch again as Sir Keir Starmer made a statement in the House of Commons to mark the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
The prime minister has said that the UK “must unequivocally stand with the Jewish community” and reiterated his calls for a ceasefire as he marked one year since the Hamas attacks in Israel, which triggered Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon.
Sir Keir described October 7 2023 as “the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust” and said that “collective grief has not diminished” in the year since.
On Monday, Israeli civilians mark the anniversary of Hamas’ deadly attack, during which they killed around 1,200 people and took 251 more hostage in Gaza, 101 of which remain in the enclave.
Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israel’s retaliatory air and ground attack in Gaza, according to the local, Hamas-run health ministry.
The first anniversary comes against a backdrop of escalating violence in the Middle East, with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office having helped hundreds of people to leave Lebanon in recent days.
At least 10 firefighters have been killed in an Israeli strike on a municipal building in the town of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, the local health ministry has reported.
Smoke could be seen billowing over parts of southern Lebanon as Israel resumed its airstrikes that it claims are targeting Hezbollah.
The Lebanese health ministry, a separate authority to the Iran-backed group, says 22 people were killed and 111 wounded in Israeli strikes across the south yesterday.
