Israel-Hamas war: James Cleverly visits Israel to show 'unwavering solidarity' following Hamas attack

The UK's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has arrived in Israel to pass a sign of "unwavering solidarity" after a major escalation of violence over the weekend.

Cleverly landed in the country just after noon UK time. A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said of the trip: “The Foreign Secretary has arrived in Israel today to demonstrate the UK’s unwavering solidarity with the Israeli people following Hamas’s terrorist attacks. He will be meeting survivors of the attacks and senior Israeli leaders to outline UK support for Israel’s right to defend itself.”

The visit comes after Israel continues retaliatory air strikes at various locations in the Gaza Strip. The country's defence minister also recently ordered a "complete siege" of the area, with supply lines to fuel, food and electricity to be cut off.

Despite Israel stating that the Gaza border was now sealed, there are fears that the conflict could still escalate even further. The violence which began with the surprise Hamas attack on Saturday 7 October has caused the death of at least 2,100 lives combined on both sides so far.

The BBC have also reported that the number of British citizens feared missing of dead amid the violence has risen from an estimated ten people, to 17. This number includes children. However, the UK Government has not officially commented on the number of people it is aware are feared missing or dead.

A number of British dead have been confirmed. Glasgow-born man Bernard Cowan died during the Hamas attack, as was Nathaniel Young, 20, who was serving in the Israeli army when the Hamas attack took place. Another man, 26-year-old Jack Marlowe, is believed to be missing. Mr Marlowe, who had attended the same school as Mr Young, was working as a security guard at the Supanova music festival when Hamas militants para-glided into the festival site and opened fire on attendees.

In a letter to Cleverly, the shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said: “While Israeli airspace has not officially been closed, most UK airlines have been forced to cancel their flights for the foreseeable future. This is obviously deeply concerning for all those who are desperate to return to loved ones in the UK. Several countries… have announced rescue flights to return their nationals who are stranded. Does the UK government have plans to do the same?”