Rishi Sunak has backed “specific pauses” in the conflict between Israel and Hamas to allow British nationals to escape Gaza and let aid in but rejected calls for a ceasefire.
The Prime Minister said breaks in fighting as Israel pummels the small territory, which is home to more than two million Palestinians, are necessary to get hostages released as well.
He said the pauses had been discussed at the United Nations as he announced that an RAF plane is flying to Egypt with 21 tonnes of humanitarian supplies.
More than 80 MPs have urged the Government to call for a ceasefire, as five UK nationals remain missing, some of whom are believed to be being held hostage in Gaza.
Mhairi Black, the SNP’s deputy leader in the Commons, said Britain has a “human responsibility” to all civilians in Gaza but particularly so to UK nationals who she said are in hospitals in Gaza with no food, no water, no medicine and “no way out”.
“How much worse does the situation have to get before he will join us in calls for a humanitarian ceasefire?” she asked at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Mr Sunak said that he has said since the conflict reignited with Hamas’s atrocity that “the first and most important principle is that Israel has the right to defend itself under international law”.
“Our support for that position is absolute and unchanged,” he said.
“From the start we’ve also said that we do want British nationals to be able to leave Gaza, and we want for hostages to be released and for humanitarian aid to get in.
“We recognise for all of that to happen there has to be a safer environment which of course necessitates specific pauses as distinct from a ceasefire.”
Ms Black argued that joining calls for a ceasefire is the “best and maybe the only way to stop this conflict escalating beyond all control”.
But Mr Sunak said that Israel has the “right to protect itself” after suffering a “shockingly brutal terrorist attack” at the hands of Hamas.
An RAF C-17 aircraft was en route to Egypt from Brize Norton to deliver the British aid to Palestinian civilians.
Mr Sunak said: “Our team are on the ground ready to receive, we will continue to do everything we can do increase the flow of aid – including fuel – into Gaza.”
