Israel Palestine news LIVE: IDF continues to strike Gaza with air strikes as troops massed on the border ‘prepare to execute mission’

Britain’s Defense Secretary has said he cannot give exact numbers on how many British nationals have been caught up in the violence in Israel and Gaza.

“No, I don’t have exact figures for that. We think it could be around ten or more, but we don’t have exact numbers,” Grant Shapps told Times Radio this morning.

He also said separately that there was no ‘equivalence’ between the actions of Hamas and the Israeli government in a separate interview with Sky News.

“When you have terrorists going out and slaughtering festival goers and killing babies, that’s completely different than going after Hamas terrorists,” he said.

“The point I’m trying to make is that the objective of the Hamas terrorists was to go after innocent civilians, and that’s what they’ve done in hundreds, even thousands,” he added.

“This is not the objective of Israel, which is specifically trying to go after terrorists. We know that in war there can be damage beyond the terrorists, but that is not their objective, so I say there is no equivalence between the two.’

Also speaking this morning, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said Israel was right to surround Gaza in response to Hamas attacks.

“I think Israel has this right. It’s an ongoing situation,” he told LBC.

“Obviously everything has to be done within international law, but I don’t want to deviate from the fundamental principles that Israel has the right to defend itself and Hamas bears responsibility for terrorist acts.”

Sir Keir’s wife Victoria is Jewish, and he said they have family in Israel who are being affected by the events. Shapps’ family is also Jewish.