Starmer declines to sanction Netanyahu over ‘appalling’ plan for Gaza ‘humanitarian city’

A further four humanitarian aid sites would be established in the area to accommodate the extra demand, while the IDF would secure a buffer zone around the camp.

But Katz said that, once Gazans had relocated, they would be encouraged to “voluntarily emigrate” to third countries.

Condemning the plan during PMQs today, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey asked the prime minister: “The world is looking on in horror at the scenes from Gaza, and now Netanyahu’s ministers want to lock the whole population of Gaza in to effectively a giant prison – a plan that would amount to ethnic cleansing.

"Does the prime minister agree that this is utterly abhorrent and unacceptable, and will he make clear that the UK will not stand by and will act, starting by sanctioning Prime Minister Netanyahu himself?”

In response, Starmer said: “I am appalled by these suggestions in relation to Gaza, just as I’m appalled by the reports of yet more civilians being killed while trying to access aid.

"I would expect them to be fully and transparently investigated with full accountability for any failings. Israel must clearly put in place measures that properly protect civilians in line with international law.”

However, he did not make any comment on Davey’s suggestion of sanctions against Netanyahu, instead reiterating the government’s policy of pushing for an “immediate ceasefire”, an increase in the supply of aid to the Strip and a political peace process, which he described as “the only way we are going to get a lasting solution”.

Elsewhere in the session, Imran Hussain, Labour backbencher for Bradford East, accused Israel of “war crimes” and called for a greater sanctions regime, asking: “How many more horrors must we witness before the prime minister acts with the same scale of sanctions [as against Russia] to stop this genocide? Don’t Palestinian lives matter?”

Replying, Starmer repeated his calls for investigations into reports of civilian deaths and for an immediate ceasefire, but again declined to comment on the prospect of further sanctions.

Meanwhile, Starmer, whose wife Victoria is Jewish, told Davey that he would “study” the findings of the new report from the Board of Deputies’ Commission on Antisemitism, which was co-written by the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, Lord Mann.

He also committed to respond to the report “in full”, adding: “We must fight antisemitism wherever we find it, as we must fight all hate offences, crimes and incidents wherever we find them.”