The UK prime minister has arrived in Israel to meet leaders in the Middle East and call for any escalation of the conflict to be avoided.
Rishi Sunak will hold talks with the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and president Isaac Herzog as he starts a two-day trip that is expected to take in a number of capitals in the region.
He will urge Middle East leaders to “avoid further dangerous escalation”, saying that “too many lives have been lost” already in the Israeli-Hamas war.
Speaking to reporters after landing in Israel, Mr Sunak said: “You have suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism and I want you to know that the United Kingdom and I stand with you.”
His visit comes after the United States president flew into Israel on Wednesday in a diplomatic bid to prevent fighting from spiralling into a larger crisis.
Joe Biden urged Israel not to be “consumed by” rage in the wake of Hamas’s deadly attack on October 7th and to avoid making the same “mistakes” that the US did after September 11, 2001, following the Islamist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The US 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.
The first crack in a punishing 10-day siege on the territory came a day after a deadly blast at a Gaza City hospital killed hundreds.
Hamas blamed Israel for the strike, while Tel Aviv pointed the finger at a rocket misfire by Islamic Jihad, another militant group operating in Gaza. Islamic Jihad has dismissed the claim.
I am in Israel, a nation in grief.
I grieve with you and stand with you against the evil that is terrorism.
Today, and always.
סוֹלִידָרִיוּת pic.twitter.com/DTcvkkLqdTAdvertisement— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 19, 2023
Liverpool and Egypt forward Mohamed Salah used his significant social media following to call for the massacres in the conflict to stop and for aid to be allowed into Gaza immediately.
In a video post, Salah said: “The scenes at the hospital last night were horrifying. The people of Gaza need food, water and medical supplies urgently.”
The hospital deaths sparked protests across the Middle East, including angry scenes in Jordan and in the Lebanese capital Beirut where hundreds of demonstrators clashed with security forces near the US embassy on Wednesday. The Hezbollah group, a key ally of Hamas, also held a rally in the city.
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) October 18, 2023
The UK 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”.
During the UK prime minister’s trip to the Middle East, in which he is expected to meet a number of counterparts, No 10 said he plans to press for aid to be allowed into Gaza and for those “trapped in the territory” to be allowed to leave the 25-mile area.
A Downing Street official said he will share his condolences for the “terrible loss of life in Israel and Gaza in the last two weeks as a result of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attacks”.
He will call for the “barbaric” acts carried out by the Palestinian militant group not to “become a catalyst for further escalation of conflict in the region”.
Ahead of his departure, the UK prime minister said: “Every civilian death is a tragedy. And too many lives have been lost following Hamas’s horrific act of terror.
“The attack on al Ahli hospital should be a watershed moment for leaders in the region and across the world to come together to avoid further dangerous escalation of conflict.
“I will ensure the UK is at the forefront of this effort.”
The 2,200-mile trip means Mr Sunak will not be in the UK when the results of Thursday’s Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-election contests are announced in the early hours of Friday, with the Conservatives battling to hold onto what were once regarded as safe seats.
In parallel to Mr Sunak’s travel, UK foreign secretary James Cleverly will visit Egypt, Turkey and Qatar in the coming days to underscore the UK’s message.
Mr Cleverly said: “It is in no one’s interests – neither Israeli, Palestinian nor the wider Middle East – for others to be drawn into this conflict.
“I am meeting counterparts from influential states in the region to push for calm and stability, facilitate humanitarian access into Gaza and work together to secure the release of hostages.”
Since the flare-up of violence in Israel and Gaza, the Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity, and police have recorded a steep rise in antisemitism in the UK.
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”.
