Starmer and Israel's president in 'tough' exchanges over Gaza humanitarian aid

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, had a "tough" set of exchanges over humanitarian aid in Gaza at a meeting yesterday in Downing Street, amid street protests demanding Herzog's arrest as a war criminal.

- Patrick Wintour

Herzog, speaking to the Chatham House thinktank immediately after the meeting, said he had offered the British government a fact-finding mission to look at the levels of aid entering Gaza. He denied there was any famine there and blamed the high civilian death toll on Hamas, accusing it of placing missiles in living rooms. He offered no apology for the attack on the Hamas leadership in Doha on Tuesday, accusing Qatar of being allies of Hamas rather than mediators.

Downing Street said Starmer had "condemned Israel's action in Doha yesterday as completely unacceptable. He said the strikes were a flagrant violation of a key partner's sovereignty and do nothing to secure the peace we all desperately want to see.

Turning to Gaza, he reiterated his huge concern and implored Israel to change course. They must stop the manmade famine from worsening further by letting aid in and halting their offensive operations."

No 10 defended the decision for Starmer and the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, to meet Herzog, and said one goal was to persuade him that Israel needed to do more to evacuate injured children and potential students from Gaza to the UK.