The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, had a “tough” set of exchanges over humanitarian aid in Gaza at a Downing Street meeting, amid street protests demanding Herzog’s arrest as a war criminal.
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 and blamed the high civilian death toll on Hamas placing missiles in living rooms.
He offered no apology for the attack on Hamas’s leadership in Doha on Tuesday, accusing Qatar of being allies of Hamas rather than mediators.
Downing Street said Starmer “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 human-made 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.
In the Commons, the meeting was widely condemned by Labour MPs angry the government is not taking a tougher line with Israel, which some described as a “rogue state”.
Herzog’s trip has been billed as a private visit to support the Jewish community in the UK.
He said of his encounter with Starmer: “It was a meeting between allies, but it was a tough meeting.”
He added: “Things were said that were tough and strong, and clearly we can argue, because when allies meet they can argue. We are both democracies, we both understand the threat from the jihadists.”
Herzog condemned the British intention to recognise a Palestinian state, saying: “We believe that a unilateral resolution regarding a Palestinian state will be adverse and negatively affect any future process, because it will be dangerous.
“It won’t help one Palestinian, one hostage, and can be adversely interpreted by Hamas.”
He also said he rejected “out of hand” comments by Wes Streeting that Israel has to answer allegations of war crimes and genocide.
“Even a recent UK report said that Israel is not carrying out, God forbid, any genocide, and we reject it out of hand,” he said. “It’s very easy to blame Israel without understanding the facts or without seeing it for themselves.”
Herzog did admit that the food distribution system set up by the Israeli government and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had not worked, adding Israel was in the middle of a major overhaul of food distribution.
He also denied it was an Israeli plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza, urging Europeans not to take remarks made by cabinet members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich as if they were Israeli policy.
“Israel is a democracy with as far-reaching free speech as imaginable, but that does not reflect in any way the Israeli policy,” he said. “This is absolutely not the Israeli position or intention. Israel has made it clear it does not want to expel anyone.”
Herzog tried to downplay plans to annex most of the West Bank, saying they were not going to be implemented tomorrow.
Rejecting a two-state solution, he said both sides were too traumatised to consider such a step, and accused Hamas of trying to drive the region and the world crazy.
Several hundred protesters gathered in the rain outside Chatham House, banging pots and pans as the Israeli president’s convoy arrived. The crowd chanted “lock him up” throughout Herzog’s speech.
Rachel, a 20-year-old law student who held a “Herzog to the Hague” sign, called for his arrest and said it was “disgusting” that he had been granted a meeting with Starmer.
“However, it’s not surprising. We know that this government, time and time again, has accepted and welcomed war criminals,” she said.
“The government knows that so much of the British public do not stand for this. We do not stand for the actions of Herzog and they knew they had to do this in secret, because we would have been there to stop it.”
Jacqueline Namon, who travelled from Reading to London for the protest, said she felt the government had rolled out the red carpet for Herzog.
“Whatever I’m doing during the day, I’m thinking about Gaza. It’s just in my head the whole time. It’s stressful but I can’t believe it’s just getting worse and worse. I can’t understand how the powers that be are behaving the way they are behaving.”
In an earlier briefing to the media, Herzog insisted that the Qatar strike was designed to bring about an end to the war. “We targeted those who refused to accept the deal – primarily Khalil al-Hayya, who was the head of Hamas,” he said.
“He kept on being the objector. He refused adamantly to get to a deal. He kept on saying ‘no’, or ‘yes, but’ – and the ‘but’ was impossible to overcome.
“His conditions could never be met. He was one of the instigators and perpetrators of 7 October, and I guess the Americans can confirm it.”
Al-Hayya was initially reported to have been killed in the strike, but Israeli officials have since suggested that this may not be the case. However, his son, Humam, and Jihad Labad, the director of his office, have been confirmed as being among the six people killed.
In a statement released after the meeting, No 10 said: “The leaders agreed that the hostages who were cruelly ripped by Hamas from their families nearly two years ago must be released.
“The prime minister also shared his condolences for the horrifying terror attack in Jerusalem on Monday, making clear that the UK stands against the abhorrent terrorism Israel has endured since 7 October.”
