British people in Israel are being told to register with the Foreign Office so the UK government can assist them if they wish to leave the country.
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, told MPs on Monday his department was asking all British nationals to notify the government and receive instructions on how best to leave, after the country closed down its airspace.
With Israel and Iran continuing their air attacks against each other, fears are growing for hundreds of thousands of Britons living in the broader region.
Lammy told the Commons: “We are asking all British nationals in Israel to register their presence with the FCDO [Foreign Office], so that we can share important information on the situation and leaving the country.
“Israel and Iran have closed their airspace until further notice, and our ability therefore to provide support in Iran is extremely limited. British nationals in the region should closely monitor our travel advice for further updates.”
Keir Starmer, who is in Canada for the G7 summit, separately said: “For British nationals in Israel, we’re giving advice today to register their presence. There will be a portal for that.”
The prime minister spent Sunday evening talking to four of the other world leaders at the summit, largely about the Middle East crisis. The prime minister held informal discussions with Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor; France’s president, Emmanuel Macron; Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister; and Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, Downing Street said.
While UK officials stressed this was not a snub to Donald Trump given the US president did not arrive at the summit until later on Sunday night, the talks will be seen as a way for a key group of G7 leaders to present a united front to the volatile US president. Starmer is due to meet Trump later on Monday.
In the UK, the government is increasingly concerned about the welfare of British nationals in the region. The government does not have plans to evacuate British citizens itself, but Lammy said on Monday the Foreign Office was sending support teams to Jordan and Egypt to help people who were able to cross the borders with Israel by land.
“The situation remains fast-moving,” he said. “We expect more strikes in the days to come. This is a moment of grave danger for the region.”
Both Lammy and Starmer stressed their desire for both sides to step back from the conflict, which the foreign secretary warned posed “real risks for the global economy”.
Speaking in Canada, Starmer added: “What we need to do today is to bring that together and to be clear about how it is to be brought about.
“But the risk of the conflict escalating is obvious, I think, and the implications, not just for the region but globally, are really immense, so the focus has to be on de-escalation.”
