Gaza hospital blast caused by militants’ rocket, UK agencies believe UK intelligence services have concluded that the deadly blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group rather than by an Israeli airstrike, Rishi Sunak has told MPs. Briefing the Commons after his trip last week to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the prime minister said the explosion was likely to have been caused by a missile or part of a missile launched within Gaza towards Israel. Sunak used this assessment to criticise some media outlets for initially reporting that the blast appeared to have been caused by Israel. Also in the statement, Sunak stressed the need for a two-state solution, saying this was “essential” for lasting peace. He also said the UK would provide £20m in aid to Gaza. US intelligence has already said Washington believes the blast last Wednesday was most likely not due to an Israeli attack and instead appeared to be because of a failed rocket fired by the militant group Islamic Jihad. The Hamas-ruled territory has said 471 people were killed in the blast. US intelligence estimates put the toll at between 100 and 300 people while saying this assessment could change. Summary Here’s a roundup of the key developments from the day: UK intelligence services have concluded that the deadly blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group rather than by an Israeli airstrike, Rishi Sunak has told MPs. In a Commons statement after his trip last week to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the prime minister stressed the UK’s support for Israel but warned against actions that could undermine an eventual two-state solution, including a viable Palestine. Rishi Sunak said the aid that had been allowed into Gaza was not enough. He said: The whole house will welcome the limited opening of the Rafah crossing. It is important progress and testament to the power of diplomacy. But it is not enough. We need a constant stream as a pouring in, bringing the water, food, medicine and fuel that is so desperately needed. So we will keep up the diplomatic pressure.” The Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said he had a “really constructive meeting” with the home secretary, Suella Braverman, about the government’s position on the policing of pro-Palestine protests over the weekend. He said: “We’re accountable for the law. We can’t enforce taste or decency, but we can enforce the law.” Downing Street has indicated there are no plans to give police more powers to address chants deemed to be extremist, after “jihad” was shouted at a pro-Palestine rally. The chant was heard at the demonstration by the Hizb ut-Tahrir fundamentalist group, which was separate to the main pro-Palestine rally. The government is delaying the promised ban on no-fault evictions until after a change of the courts is achieved in the face of a Tory rebellion, provoking claims they are kicking the move into the “long grass”. The housing secretary, Michael Gove, has told Conservative MPs that the ban on section 21 evictions will not be enacted before a series of improvements are made in the legal system. Humza Yousaf visited Brechin, Angus, to assess the damage from Storm Babet. The Scottish first minister met and thanked emergency service, and search and rescue personnel who had been working since the storm hit. He told one resident it would be a “long road to recovery” from the flooding. Scotland’s justice secretary, Angela Constance, said the Scottish government had to have a “frank” conversation with vulnerable communities about how Scotland prepares for events such as Storm Babet. Keir Starmer has said he had “productive” talks during a visit to Tata Steel’s giant Port Talbot plant in south Wales. The Labour leader told broadcasters: “We have ambitious plans for the steel industry. We see this as the future, not the past. That requires strategic thinking about our economy. We want to go to clean power, that will bring down energy costs.” Parliament’s newest MPs have taken their seats after Labour inflicted a double byelection defeat on Rishi Sunak. The prime minister saw two healthy Conservative majorities disappear, in Tamworth and in Mid Bedfordshire, in results that the Labour leader, Starmer, said “made history”. We’re closing this liveblog shortly. Thanks so much for joining us. Encouraging extremism will be met with “the full force of the law”, the prime minister said, after being urged to ban a fundamentalist group that appeared at a pro-Palestine protest over the weekend. Steve McCabe, the MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, told the Commons: Hizb ut-Tahrir are a fundamentalist organisation who are banned in 40 countries and across most of the Arab world. Why are they allowed to parade on the streets of London and call for the destruction of the state of Israel? Rishi Sunak replied: As I previously said, we of course keep the list of proscribed organisations under review, but do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription. What I would also say, is I refer him to the comments that I made before: hate and extremism of the type we saw this weekend has no place in our society, and it should be met with the full force of the law. The Conservative former minister Sir Michael Ellis later said: Will the prime minister confirm that any person in the United Kingdom supporting this vicious terrorism will be subject to the full force of the law? Sunak replied: I can also tell him and provide him with the reassurance that he will know well [that] under the Terrorism Acts of both 2001 and 2004, glorification of terrorism, support of proscribed organisations, or encouraging of terrorism are all offences and will be met with the full force of the law. Parliament’s newest MPs have taken their seats after Labour inflicted a double byelection defeat on Rishi Sunak. The prime minister saw two healthy Conservative majorities disappear, in Tamworth and in Mid Bedfordshire, in results that the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said “made history”. Sarah Edwards, the new MP for Tamworth, and Alistair Strathern, the new MP for Mid Bedfordshire, were cheered by their Labour colleagues as they arrived in the House of Commons. MPs are required to make an oath or solemn affirmation of allegiance to the crown in order to take their seats in parliament. Both contests were triggered by the high-profile departures of their previous MPs. The former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries quit as Mid Bedfordshire’s MP in anger at being denied a peerage in former prime minister Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list. In Tamworth, Chris Pincher resigned after being found to have drunkenly groped two men in an “egregious case of sexual misconduct” at London’s exclusive Carlton Club last year – an incident which helped trigger Johnson’s exit from No 10 because of his handling of the situation. A plaque commemorating murdered MP Sir David Amess has been unveiled in the House of Commons. Amess who was an MP for nearly 40 years, was stabbed during a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in October 2021. The shield was unveiled by Amess’ wife, Julia Amess, at a small ceremony attended by family members, as well as commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and home secretary Suella Braverman, Commons officials said. The coat of arms features five red roses, representing his children and his love of gardening, and two talbot dogs, representing animal rescue, a cause he championed, and Bournemouth University, his alma mater. Lady Amess said she chose the motto His Light Remains, which features just below the shield, because “wherever I go, I am reminded of him in some way: someone he has helped, a charity he has supported and people whose lives he has touched”. She said: The commons meant everything to David. He loved people and worked tirelessly to help anyone. He rarely took no for an answer if he felt more could be done to help someone. I am sure some government departments became exasperated. He didn’t seek high office, he just wanted to be a good MP and help change people’s lives for the better. We are hugely honoured that his legacy lives on in the commons but, like so many of his friends, we miss his ready smile, ridiculous sense of humour and lifelong mission to brighten the most difficult of moments. The shield in Amess’ memory joins plaques to other MPs who were killed while serving, including Airey Neave, Sir Anthony Berry, Ian Gow and Jo Cox, as well as MPs killed in the two world wars. Stephen Flynn has urged the prime minister to agree to a ceasefire “given the severity of this appalling situation”. The SNP Westminster leader said he welcomes the announcements from Rishi Sunak in relation to humanitarian aid, but added: I believe that we can and must go further. And here’s why: because turning off electricity and water to Gaza is collective punishment; limiting the free access of foods and medicines to Gaza is collective punishment; preventing people from fleeing, including British citizens, from Gaza is collective punishment. Dropping leaflets in northern Gaza, telling people to flee or they will be deemed partners of Hamas is a precursor for further collective punishment. All of us, all of us in this chamber know that collective punishment is prohibited by international law. So I ask the prime minister to use his office to do some good on the humanitarian side of this conflict in Gaza and to answer the question, which I asked last week. Will he now, given the severity of this appalling situation, agree that a ceasefire is required in the region? Sunak replied: Israel has suffered an appalling act of terror. It has the right to defend itself and ensure that something like this does not happen again. He [Flynn] talks about people moving from the north to the south of Gaza. It is absolutely right that Israel takes every precaution to avoid harming civilians, and indeed their president in my conversations confirmed that they intend to act within international humanitarian law. But what is happening is Hamas is preventing people from moving and keeping them in harm’s way. The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, insisted Gaza needs “rapid, safe, unhindered and regular” aid. He said there must be “clear humanitarian corridors” within Gaza for those escaping violence, and Palestinians forced to flee “must not be permanently displaced from their homes”. Starmer also told the Commons: Hamas may not care for the safety and security of the Palestinian people but we do. We cannot and will not close our eyes to their suffering. Gaza is now a humanitarian emergency. There is not enough food, clean water is running out, hospitals are going without medicine and electricity. People starving, reduced to drinking contaminated filth. Babies lying in incubators that could switch off at any moment. Starmer said the deal struck to get trucks through the Rafah crossing is an “important first step” but more needs to be done. He said: Gaza is not a small town facing a few shortages, it has a population the size of Greater Manchester, a place even before this devastation where life was a struggle. Gaza needs aid and it needs to be rapid, safe, unhindered and regular. Starmer reiterated the need for a two-state solution in future, saying there has not been a “serious path or will” to make it happen. Calls for jihad are not only a threat to the Jewish community but also a threat to “our democratic values”, Rishi Sunak has said. The prime minister’s comments were in response to the Conservative former minister Andrew Percy, who told the Commons: How can members of the British Jewish community feel safe when people are allowed to chant on the streets of Britain in favour of jihad? Call for the raising of religious armies to go and fight Israel and call for the mobilisation of the intifada, and walk down our streets holding signs which display despicable ancient antisemitic tropes? These are not marches for peace, these are marches for hate. They are glorifying the murder, the worst murder of Jews since the Holocaust. And they have to stop. Sunak replied: Hateful extremism has no place in our society, calls for jihad and for Muslim armies to rise up are not only a threat to the Jewish community but also a threat to our democratic values. Now, of course the police are operationally independent, but the home secretary has a role in holding police forces to account and as members will know she has raised this matter with the Met police commissioner at their meeting earlier today. Anyone who commits a crime, whether that be inciting racial hatred, glorifying terrorism or violating public order, should expect to face the full force of the law. Responding to Rishi Sunak’s statement, the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, told the Commons: The brutal attack in Israel just over two weeks ago was the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust. Two weeks of grief for the innocent people who lost brothers, sisters, children; two weeks of torture for the families whose loved ones were taken hostage by Hamas. Starmer said there was a “small glimmer of light” over the weekend with the release of two US-Israeli hostages, adding: But Hamas still holds hundreds more. Sons, daughters, mums, dads still missing, innocent people who could – if Hamas willed it – be released immediately. But they remain hostage because Hamas wants the chaos of war, Hamas wants Jews to suffer, Hamas wants the Palestinian people to share in the pain because the Palestinian people are not their cause, peace is not their aim, the dignity of human life –Jew or Muslim – means absolutely nothing to them. In light of their barbarism, Israel has the right to defend herself. Yes, to get their hostages home but also to defeat Hamas so nobody need suffer like this again. And that we might once more see a road to a lasting peace, a Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel. This operation can and must be done within international law. The UK will deploy RAF and Royal Navy assets to monitor the situation in Israel and Palestine, the prime minister said. Rishi Sunak told the Commons: We are all determined to prevent escalation, that is why I am deploying RAF and Royal Navy assets, monitoring threats to regional security and supporting humanitarian efforts. The violence against Israel did not end on 7 October, Rishi Sunak has said. The prime minister told the Commons: I travelled first to Israel. It is a nation in mourning. But it is also a nation under attack. The violence against Israel did not end on October 7. Hundreds of rockets are launched at their towns and cities every day. And Hamas still holds around 200 hostages, including British citizens. In Jerusalem, I met some of the relatives who are suffering unbearable torment. Their pain will stay with me for the rest of my days. I’m doing everything in my power and working with all our partners to get their loved ones home. So in my meetings with prime minister Netanyahu and President Herzog, I told them once again that we stand resolutely with Israel in defending itself against terror. I stressed again the need to act in line with international humanitarian law and take every possible step to avoid harming civilians. He added: I recognise that the Palestinian people are suffering terribly. Over 4,000 Palestinians have been killed in this conflict. They are also the victims of Hamas, who embed themselves in the civilian population. Too many lives have already been lost, and the humanitarian crisis is growing. I went to the region to address these issues directly. The police must take “all necessary action to tackle extremism”, Rishi Sunak said after condemning the use of the word jihad at pro-Palestinian protests on the weekend. The prime minister said: We need to learn the lessons and ensure that in future there is no rush to judgment. He added: We have seen hate on our streets again this weekend. We all stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. That is the message I brought to President Abbas. But we will never tolerate antisemitism in our country. Calls for jihad on our streets are not only a threat to the Jewish community but to our democratic values and we expect the police to take all necessary action to tackle extremism head on. Gaza hospital blast caused by militants’ rocket, UK agencies believe UK intelligence services have concluded that the deadly blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group rather than by an Israeli airstrike, Rishi Sunak has told MPs. Briefing the Commons after his trip last week to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the prime minister said the explosion was likely to have been caused by a missile or part of a missile launched within Gaza towards Israel. Sunak used this assessment to criticise some media outlets for initially reporting that the blast appeared to have been caused by Israel. Also in the statement, Sunak stressed the need for a two-state solution, saying this was “essential” for lasting peace. He also said the UK would provide £20m in aid to Gaza. US intelligence has already said Washington believes the blast last Wednesday was most likely not due to an Israeli attack and instead appeared to be because of a failed rocket fired by the militant group Islamic Jihad. The Hamas-ruled territory has said 471 people were killed in the blast. US intelligence estimates put the toll at between 100 and 300 people while saying this assessment could change.