Rishi Sunak piles pressure on Israel for ‘sustainable ceasefire’ as he says too many have died in Gaza

Rishi Sunak has piled pressure on Israel to push for a “sustainable ceasefire” in Gaza, adding that “too many lives have been lost” in the ongoing conflict.

The prime minister stepped up calls for an end to hostilities and increased access for humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.

It came as Mr Sunak’s former defence secretary Ben Wallace warned Israel’s indiscriminate “killing rage” in Gaza puts it at risk of losing legal authority in the conflict.

He said the country’s relentless attacks against Palestinians risk “fuelling the conflict for another 50 years” and radicalising young Muslims across the world.

Asked about the comments during a trip to Scotland, Mr Sunak said: “Israel obviously has a right to defend itself against what was an appalling terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas, but it must do that in accordance with humanitarian law.”

He added: “It’s clear that too many civilian lives have been lost and nobody wants to see this conflict go on a day longer than it has to.

“And that’s why we’ve been consistent – and I made this point in Parliament last week – in calling for a sustainable ceasefire, whereby hostages are released, rockets stopped being fired into Israel by Hamas and we continue to get more aid in.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer backed the PM, saying: "A sustainable ceasefire is clearly, clearly what is needed."

He said: "We need to get to a sustainable ceasefire as quickly as possible.

"And, I think the route to that is to get back to where we were just two weeks ago, where hostilities ceased, there's an opening that allows the remaining hostages to be freed, which they must be straight away - allows humanitarian aid to get in - desperately needed - but, also, is a foot-in-the-door to a process, it will have to be a political process, to a two-stage solution which, in the end, is the only way that this is going to be resolved."

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing mounting international concern over the scale of civilian casualties in Gaza

The US, Israel’s main ally, has expressed growing unease about the conduct of the war.

French foreign minister Catherine Colonna called for an “immediate truce” aimed at releasing more hostages, getting larger amounts of aid into Gaza and moving towards “the beginning of a political solution”.

And foreign secretary Lord Cameron joined forces with his German counterpart to call for a “sustainable” ceasefire in the conflict, warning Israel has killed “too many civilians”. Lord Cameron is expected to visit the region imminently to urge Israel to be more targeted in its approach to the conflict.

As the death toll in Gaza spirals, Mr Wallace wrote in the Daily Telegraph: “Going after Hamas is legitimate; obliterating vast swathes of Gaza is not.

“Using proportionate force is legal but collective punishment and forced movement of civilians is not.

“We are entering a dangerous period now where Israel’s original legal authority of self-defence is being undermined by its own actions. It is making the mistake of losing its moral authority alongside its legal one.”

He said he was not “calling for a ceasefire with Hamas”, but instead that Israel “needs to stop this crude and indiscriminate method of attack”.

Mr Wallace was backed by parliament’s foreign affairs committee chairman Alicia Kearns, who said Israel has “gone beyond self-defence”. “I think unfortunately it has. International humanitarian law in my view has been broken,” Ms Kearns told the BBC.

She said: “Hamas is an ideology which recruits into its membership. Bombs don't obliterate an ideology and neither can a stable state be constructed from oblivion.”

The Israeli offensive, triggered by the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, has flattened much of northern Gaza and driven 85% of the territory’s population of 2.3 million from their homes.

Aid groups have warned of a spiralling humanitarian crisis as the bombardment continues.

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has spoken about her growing fears for her relatives, who are among a group of Christians who have sought shelter in a church compound in Gaza City.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem over the weekend said two Christian women in the Holy Family Church had been killed by Israeli sniper fire “in cold blood” and seven others were wounded, in an incident condemned by church leaders.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, said it was a “seemingly deliberate and callous killing by IDF soldiers of innocent civilians”.

Ms Moran has warned that her family in Gaza have no electricity, no water or food and described them as “basically besieged”.

“I just don’t want them to die. Honestly, that’s where I’m at. We are a week before Christmas. This is a church,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour.

“I want to see them survive to Christmas. And I’m, at this moment in time, not at all sure that’s going to happen.”