Downing Street insists Government ‘united’ over Gaza conflict as pressure grows on arms sales

There had been claims ministers were split over how to respond to the crisis.

Downing Street has insisted the Government is “completely united” over the conflict in Gaza despite claims of a Cabinet split.Ministers appeared to clash over the weekend with the Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, being far more critical of Israel than some of his colleagues.

The former Prime Minister has frequently gone further in his criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government than his cabinet colleagues, especially the Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden.It came as Labour continued to push the UK Government to publish what legal advice had been provided on whether Israel had broken international law.

Mr Dowden suggested on Sunday that Israel is being held to an “incredibly high standard” compared with other nations and claimed there is “a bit of relish from some people about the way in which they are pushing this case against Israel”.

Speaking on Monday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman denied there is a split, saying Lord Cameron’s and Mr Dowden’s words are “consistent” with Rishi Sunak’s statement on Sunday.

In that statement, marking six months since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, Mr Sunak said: “We continue to stand by Israel’s right to defeat the threat from Hamas terrorists and defend their security.

“But the whole of the UK is shocked by the bloodshed, and appalled by the killing of brave British heroes who were bringing food to those in need.

“This terrible conflict must end. The hostages must be released. The aid – which we have been straining every sinew to deliver by land, air and sea – must be flooded in.”

The spokesman added: “The whole Government is focused on bringing this conflict to an end, getting hostages out and more aid in.”

Meanwhile, the Government continues to resist pressure from opposition parties to publish legal advice on Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law amid continuing demands to suspend arms exports to the country.

The UK’s arms exports regime would prevent the supply of weapons to Israel if there is a “clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We are obviously aware of the interest in this issue and we will always look to be transparent about our decisions on these matters, whilst respecting the long-standing convention that we don’t publish legal advice on these issues.”

Lord Cameron is expected to comment further when he faces questions at a press conference with US counterparts later this week as part of a visit to Washington DC.

Earlier on Monday, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride also cited “long-standing convention” about publishing legal advice, but added that Israel “abides by the rule of law”.

Mr Stride stressed, however, that UK support for Israel is not “unconditional”, saying: “We expect Israel not to do the kinds of things that happened with the aid workers, and we have made it very clear that we are appalled by what happened there.”

Monday also saw Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reiterate calls for the Government to publish advice received on whether Israel is violating international humanitarian law in Gaza.

He said: “Yesterday was the six-month anniversary of this awful conflict, and we’ve seen the continual withholding of hostages, we’ve seen 33,000 people killed in this conflict, many of them women and children, so we need the conflict to end. We need that ceasefire.

“On the question of arms sales, there’s a legal test for when sales should be suspended.

“The Government’s got advice on that and so what the Government should do is to publish that legal advice, or at least a summary of it.

“They’ve published summaries before in response to the Houthi attacks, to publish that so we can all see it and that appropriate action can then be taken in relation to the sale of arms.”

British nationals John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, were among seven aid workers killed in an Israeli air strike on April 1, prompting condemnation from London and other Western capitals.

More than 1,200 lawyers and academics, including former lord chief justice Lord Woolf, and ex-Supreme Court justices Lord Collins and Lord Dyson, have signed a letter insisting there is no legal requirement to impose an arms embargo.

The UK Lawyers for Israel-organised letter comes in response to calls from more than 600 lawyers, including former Supreme Court justices, to suspend arms sales.Elsewhere, preliminary hearings opened at the United Nations’ top court in a case that seeks an end to German military and other aid to Israel, based on claims that Berlin is enabling acts of genocide and breaches of international humanitarian law in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Nicaragua argues that by giving Israel political, financial and military support and by defunding the UN aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, “Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide”.

Opening Nicaragua’s case at the International Court of Justice, the country’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, told the 16-judge panel that “Germany is failing to honour its own obligation to prevent genocide or to ensure respect of international humanitarian law”.

While the case brought by Nicaragua centres on Germany, it indirectly takes aim at Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the deadly October 7 attacks when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people.