Rishi Sunak says Israel must 'do more' to ease 'intolerable' suffering in Gaza but defends arms sales

The UK Government has faced calls to suspend arms sales.

Rishi Sunak has urged Benjamin Netanyahu “to do more” to alleviate suffering in Gaza amid mounting pressure over the UK’s decision not to suspend arms sales to Israel.

The Prime Minister claimed the UK government had an “obligation” to follow the legal advice of the conflict in the Middle East, which he insisted had left Britain’s position on export licences unchanged.

Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP have all raised concerns about arms sales to Israel. Foreign secretary Lord Cameron had previously promised to public legal advice.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak bat away criticism over arms sales to Israel.

Speaking in the US on Tuesday, Lord Cameron confirmed that Britain would continue to allow sales, prompting criticism from aid organisations and charities.

Speaking to LBC, Mr Sunak defended the move, saying “none of our closest allies” have stopped existing arms export licences. But he said he had made it “very clear” to the Israeli premier that he needed to improve aid access.

Mr Sunak said: “It was a shocking tragedy what happened to our veterans when they were selflessly carrying out aid missions into Gaza and I’ve also said repeatedly the situation in Gaza is increasingly intolerable.

“The humanitarian suffering that people are experiencing isn’t right and Prime Minister Netanyahu needs to do more to alleviate that. I’ve made that very clear to him.”

The Prime Minister said the UK had a “long-established process” relating to arms export licences and “we review these things regularly”.

“That’s led to no change,” he said. “Actually none of our closest allies have currently suspended existing arms licences either, so we continue to discuss these things with our allies.”

Ministers have resisted calls to publish the assessments they receive of whether Israel’s military action in Gaza is in line with international humanitarian law, but say they are acting in accordance with them.

The government has faced growing pressure to suspend arms export licences to the Israeli government after the killing of seven aid workers, including three British nationals, in a drone strike last week.

However, Mr Sunak did back calls from Joe Biden for a six to eight-week ceasefire following the latest intervention from Israel’s closest ally, in which the US president described Mr Netanyahu’s approach to the war as a “mistake”.

It comes after Mr Biden ramped up his criticism of Mr Netanyahu in an intervention overnight, branding the Israeli prime minister’s handling of the war a “mistake” in the latest sign of frayed relations between the two allies.

Asked whether he agrees with the US president’s calls for a six to eight-week ceasefire, Mr Sunak said: “Yes, we’ve been very aligned on this.

“And I’ve said consistently in Parliament and publicly that what we want to see is an immediate humanitarian pause, so that we can get the hostages out, and it’s critical to remember that Hamas is still holding hostages, including Brits. We want to get the hostages released unconditionally, we want to get aid in to help alleviate the suffering, and then use that as a platform to build a sustainable ceasefire.”

Lord Cameron’s announcement on Tuesday came as Mr Netanyahu escalated his threats to carry out a ground invasion of Rafah, saying a date had been set for the operation.