Downing Street has slapped down David Lammy after he said Israel had breached international law in Gaza.
The foreign secretary made the claim - which appeared to be a major shift in the government’s position - in the House of Commons on Monday.
Labour MP Rupa Huq had said that Israel had broken international law by blocking aid from going into Gaza.
Agreeing with his colleague, Lammy replied: “This is a breach of international law. Israel quite rightly must defend its own security. But we find the lack of aid — it’s now been 15 days since aid got into Gaza — unacceptable, hugely alarming and very worrying.
“We would urge Israel to get back to the amount of trucks we were seeing — way beyond 600 — so Palestinians can get the necessary humanitarian support that they need at this time.”
Lammy then repeated the comments when former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Israel was acting “illegally” and “in breach of international law”.
The foreign secretary replied: “I did say in my contribution that it is in breach of international humanitarian law.”
But the prime minister’s official spokesman insisted on Tuesday that the government’s previous policy, which stopped short of accusing Israel of breaching international law, had not changed.
He said: “Our position remains that Israel’s actions are a clear risk of breaching international law.”
The spokesman added: “There’s no change in our policy and the foreign secretary’s policy remains that Israel’s actions in Gaza are a clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law.”
Oxfam chief executive Halima Begum said: “Today of all days, when Israel has resumed its illegal bombing campaign and forced displacement orders on Palestinians in Gaza, for the government to row back on the foreign secretary’s words is nothing short of appalling.
“The UK government must condemn these crimes in the strongest terms immediately and stop its complicity in this catastrophic crisis.”