Rishi Sunak has called for a “calm and cool” response to the strike on a hospital in Gaza as intelligence services review evidence of who was behind the deadly blast.
The prime minister urged MPs not to “rush to judgement” as Israel and Hamas issued rival claims about the atrocity, which is feared to have killed at least 500 civilians on Tuesday.
Visiting Tel Aviv amid the escalating conflict, US President Joe Biden sided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by telling him it “appears as though it was done by the other team, not you”.
But Mr Sunak – who held talks with the UK’s national security adviser and the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee on Wednesday morning – said he would not “rush to judgement before we have all the facts on this awful situation”.
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At Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons, he said: “Our intelligence services have been rapidly analysing the evidence to independently establish the facts. We are not in a position at this point to say more than that.”
During a visit to Essex on Wednesday afternoon, the prime minister added that the “very heightened, sensitive situation” demanded “calm heads”.
“This is obviously a complicated situation on the ground but it is right that we approach it with a calm and cool manner, don’t rush to premature judgements, take the time to understand what’s happened, that’s what we’re doing,” he said.
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Hamas said an Israeli airstrike led to the devastation at the al Ahli hospital, where hundreds of Palestinians were seeking shelter from bombardments launched in the wake of Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on 7 October.
But the Israeli military blamed a misfiring rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group and released imagery and communications intercepts aimed at supporting their case.
On the difference in position with America, the UK’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said ministers “take note” of what President Biden has said, “but we will come to our own judgement”.
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He said a UK assessment of what happened will be made public “as soon as we are confident of the details”.
Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps stressed that misattributing responsibility for the blast could “make things worse” and “we don’t yet know” who was behind it.
Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf said the blast was a “complete and utter human tragedy” and called for an independent investigation into who bears responsibility.
“It’s a complete breach of international law – the targeting of a hospital,” he told BBC Breakfast.
The strike on the hospital has led to heightened calls for a humanitarian ceasefire – though this is something Mr Sunak refused to endorse when he addressed MPs at PMQs.
A spokesperson for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also dismissed the calls, telling reporters that Israel had a “right to defend itself” and to do what was needed to recover the 199 hostages it says are being held captive in Gaza.
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More than 40 MPs from across the divide have signed a motion supporting a ceasefire so that the release of hostages could be secured, international law could be upheld and medical supplies, food, fuel, electricity and water could get into Gaza.
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The motion said parliament “utterly condemns the massacre of Israeli civilians and taking of hostages by Hamas” but that it agrees with the UN that “these horrific acts do not justify responding with the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”.
Mr Sunak said Israel “has a right to defend itself” and the UK was continuing to press to get humanitarian aid into Gaza and was “working around the clock” to free British hostages taken by Hamas.
At least seven British nationals, including 13-year-old Yahel Sharabi, were killed in the Hamas raids on Israel on 7 October.
Downing Street said that nine UK nationals remain missing, with some of those feared dead, while others could be among the hostages taken back to the Gaza Strip.
