Netanyahu rejects calls for restraint over Iran

David Cameron said it was clear Israel was “making a decision to act” in response to last weekend’s Iranian mass drone and ballistic missile attack yesterday as Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off calls for restraint and said his country would make its own decisions on how to defend itself.

- Patrick Wintour

Cameron, the UK foreign secretary , said he hoped the Israeli response would be carried out in a way that minimised escalation.

“It’s right to have made our views clear about what should happen next, but it’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act,” he said after meeting the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, in Jerusalem. “We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible,” he added, becoming the first non-Israeli politician to openly admit that some kind of military reprisal was inevitable.

Cameron later met Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who made it clear Israel would reach its own decisions on its security.

Speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting , Netanyahu said: “ I thank our friends for their support for the defence of Israel … They also have all kinds of suggestions and advice, I appreciate it, but I want to make it clear : we will make our own decisions, and the state of Israel will do everything necessary to protect itself.”

Cameron met Netanyahu and Herzog alongside the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock . She was on her eighth visit to Israel since the Hamas attack on 7 October , in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage , prompt ing the Israeli offensive in Gaza that has so far killed an estimated 34,000 Palestinians.