David Cameron 'worried' Israel may have broken international law

David Cameron, the new foreign secretary, finally appeared before MPs on Tuesday

Israel "might" have broken international law in Gaza, Lord David Cameron has admitted.

In a bruising session before the foreign affairs committee on Tuesday, the foreign secretary struggled as he was grilled on the conflict.

It came in a hearing that also saw the former prime minister confirm two UK nationals remain hostage amid the conflict in the Middle East.

Lord David Cameron speaking at the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Houses of Parliament.

In his first appearance before MPs since becoming foreign secretary, Lord Cameron also declined to say whether he had seen any Foreign Office legal advice stating that Israel had breached international humanitarian law in Gaza.

Taking questions from committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns, the foreign secretary said: “The reason for not answering this question, I cannot recall every single bit of paper that has been put in front of me. I look at everything.

“Of course, there are a lot of things that have happened where you think surely that was something that shouldn’t have happened.”

Lord Cameron refused to go further in his answer, also telling MPs it was not his job to make a “legal adjudication”.

He also called on Israel to restore the water supply in Gaza, but declined to be drawn on whether depriving the civilian population of it amounts to breaking international law. He added: “It is just something they ought to do, in my view.”

An estimated 240 people were taken prisoner in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 attacks against Israel. A total of 105 hostages were released during the ceasefire in November.

Lord Cameron said he had seen figures that Hamas had “lost over 50 per cent of their capability and capacity in terms of being able to launch rockets and all the rest of it”.

Tory MP Bob Seely asked him whether Foreign Office lawyers have advised that Israel was vulnerable to challenge from The Hague.

Mr Seely asked whether “reading between the lines” lawyers are saying the Israelis are “vulnerable to a challenge from The Hague court and from elsewhere that in some of the things they are doing in potentially in relation to proportionality, there is a vulnerability”.

“It’s close to that,” Lord Cameron replied.

Downing Street was quick to clarify the former PM’s comments, insisting they were about urging Israel to “act carefully” and avoid risking further escalation in its war with Hamas.

Asked whether Rishi Sunak shared Lord Cameron’s concerns about whether Israel was acting within international law, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It’s an issue we continue to keep under review and obviously we have made our views clear to the Israeli government at a number of levels on this.

“We continue to want Israel to act carefully and avoid doing anything that could endanger civilians or risk potential further escalation. Fundamentally, though, we recognise that it is Israel that is responding to a terror attack, first and foremost.”

Later in the hearing, Lord Cameron also defended his decision to intervene in Libya during his time in Downing Street, calling criticism of the action "bunk".