BRITAIN’S political leaders failed to condemn Israeli war crimes against Palestinian people today in a “bleak day for democracy.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer gave back-to-back Commons speeches blaming Hamas for Israel’s air strikes and cutting off food and energy supplies to the Gaza Strip. 

West-backed Israel declared war and has ordered more than a million Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of an anticipated ground offensive after more than 1,400 Israelis were killed in Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7.

Nearly 2,700 Gaza residents have now been killed in retaliatory air strikes by Israel, which has said its siege will not end until nearly 200 hostages seized by the militant group are released.

Today Mr Sunak revealed that at least six British citizens had been killed in the fighting and announced a £10 million aid boost for Palestine after the United Nations Relief & Works Agency’s commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini on Sunday warned that Gaza was running out of water and would soon have “no food or medicine either.”

Mr Sunak said: “I believe we must support absolutely Israel’s right to defend itself, to go after Hamas, take back their hostages, deter further incursions and strengthen its security for the long term.

“This must be done in line with international humanitarian law but also recognising that they face a vicious enemy that embeds itself behind civilians.

“As a friend, we will continue to call on Israel to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians.

“We must support the Palestinian people because they are victims of Hamas too.”

Sir Keir said: “Israel has the right to bring her people home, to defend herself, to keep its people safe, and while Hamas has the capacity to carry out attacks on Israeli territory there can be no safety.

“Israel’s defence must be conducted in accordance with international law. Civilians must not be targeted. Innocent lives must be protected. There must be humanitarian corridors.

“There must be humanitarian access, including food, water, electricity and medicines so that hospitals can keep people alive and so that innocent people do not needlessly die, and there must be proper protection for all those who work selflessly so aid can be delivered to victims.”

In response, Labour MP Richard Burgon charged: “Civilian areas bombed; food, electricity, water, medicines: all cut off. Such collective punishment is a war crime under the Geneva Convention.” 

He called on Mr Sunak to “take this opportunity to make clear to the Israeli government that this collective punishment of Palestinian civilians must end immediately.”

The PM replied: “Of course Israel will act within international humanitarian law. We must acknowledge always the responsibility for what is happening here is Hamas’s alone.”

Stop the War Coalition’s deputy chairman Chris Nineham told the Morning Star: “This is a bleak day for democracy. Leaders of both the main parties are condoning Israeli war crimes.

“Sunak’s claim that the actions now being committed by the Israelis in Gaza amount to self-defence is catastrophically wrong and deeply immoral.

“The massacres taking place in Gaza are plunging the whole region deeper into chaos.

“There can be no caveats: collective punishment is illegal and barbaric.”

Earlier in the day, Mr Sunak expressed his condolences for the deaths of civilians in a call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and discussed providing humanitarian aid to Gaza and measures to protect civilians, but the authority holds little sway in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas.

Mr Sunak also held a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the need to send aid to Gaza.

British officials have been pressing for Egypt to open the Rafah crossing with Gaza to allow Britons, dual nationals and their spouses and children to flee and to allow aid in to Gaza’s more than two million people.

The UN and global aid agencies have expressed alarm about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza while Western diplomats are concerned that the war between Hamas and Israel could spark a wider conflict in the Middle East.