British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog had a "tough" talk about humanitarian aid to Gaza in a meeting at "Downing Street", amid street protests demanding that Herzog be arrested as a war criminal.
Herzog, speaking to the think tank "Chatham House" immediately after the meeting, said he had offered the British government a fact-finding mission to look into the levels of aid going to Gaza. He denied there was a famine and explained the high civilian death toll by saying that "Hamas" The US has used it as a "human shield". The president made no apology for the attack on the Palestinian leadership in Doha on Tuesday, accusing Qatar of being its ally, not its mediator.
"Downing Street" said Starmer had "condemned Israel's actions in Doha yesterday as completely unacceptable." He said the strikes were a blatant violation of the sovereignty of a key partner and did nothing to secure the peace that everyone desperately wants to see.
On Gaza, the British prime minister reiterated his grave concerns and called on Israel to change course. "They must stop the further worsening of the artificial famine by allowing aid to reach them and halting their offensive operations," Starmer said.
The government defended the decision for the British prime minister and foreign secretary Yvette Cooper to meet Herzog, saying one of the aims was to persuade him that Israel should do more to evacuate wounded children and potential students from Gaza to Britain. In the House of Commons, the meeting was roundly criticized by Labour MPs, angry that the government was not taking a tougher stance on Israel, which some have described as a "rogue state."
Herzog's trip was billed as a private visit in support of the Jewish community in Britain.