HUMAN rights groups called on David Lammy today to clarify his understanding of genocide following comments he made on Gaza.

Last week, the Foreign Secretary said that the term genocide is “largely used when millions of people lost their lives in crises like Rwanda, the second world war, the Holocaust, and the way that they are used now [regarding Gaza] undermines the seriousness of that term.”

Thirty-seven organisations, including the British Palestinian Committee (BPC), today said his focus on death tolls appeared to show “a dangerously misguided understanding of the crime.”

In an open letter, they said his comments “injected a deeply troubling ambiguity.”

BPC director Sara Husseini said Mr Lammy’s position “betrays a chilling double standard on Palestine and a clear pattern of erasure when it comes to Palestinians.”

“With each day that passes, this government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide deepens, as it continues to misrepresent the reality of the situation, while approving arms sales and other forms of military and diplomatic support to Israel,” she told Middle East Eye.