Sunak says UK committed to two-state solution after Israeli ambassador remarks

Rishi Sunak has stressed the UK remains committed to a two-state solution in the Middle East after the Israeli ambassador said Tel Aviv does not support an independent country for Palestinians.

The Prime Minister said Britain continues to consider a two-state solution as the “right outcome” to the Israel-Hamas war.

He repeated his call for a “sustainable ceasefire” that involves Hamas no longer firing rockets at Israel and freeing hostages in exchange for more aid into the Gaza Strip.

His comments come as Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron announced travel sanctions on “extremist settlers” in the West Bank, who he accused of “undermining security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians” by “targeting and killing Palestinian civilians”.

Lord Cameron tweeted: “Israel must take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable.

“We are banning those responsible for settler violence from entering the UK to make sure our country cannot be a home for people who commit these intimidating acts.”

During a visit to a school in Finchley, north London, the Prime Minister was asked about Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, saying the Oslo Accords, a peace process started in the 1990s and based on giving Palestinian people the right to self-determination, had “failed”.

Asked by Sky News in an interview published on Wednesday whether Palestinians would have their own state in any peace deal, Ms Hotovely replied: “The answer is absolutely no.

“Israel knows today, and the world should know now, the reason the Oslo accord failed is because the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel.

“They want to have a state from the river to the sea.”

The diplomat questioned why the West was “so obsessed with a formula that never worked, that created this radical people on the other side”.

Mr Sunak, asked about the remarks on Thursday, said: “We don’t agree with that.

“Our longstanding position remains that the two-state solution is the right outcome here.”

The Conservative Party leader said the conflict in the Middle East is “incredibly concerning” and that “far too many innocent people have lost their lives”.

He added: “We will continue to support calls for a sustainable ceasefire where hostages are released, more aid can get in, and the rockets, crucially, stop being fired from Hamas into Israel as well.”

The United Nations’ General Assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, a move that was objected to by the US and abstained on by the UK.

Ms Hotovely said Israel needs “more than a few weeks” to “finish the job”, adding that Israeli cities had been barraged by 11,000 rockets in recent weeks.

She said a ceasefire now would be akin to welcoming “another attack” like that witnessed on October 7.

Hamas’s bloody raids on Israel more than two months ago saw 1,200 people killed and more than 240 taken hostage.

Israel’s air and ground assault launched in response has killed more than 18,600 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.