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David Cameron warns Israel over Gaza civilian casualties

David Cameron said those responsible for "settler violence" in the West Bank must be prosecuted

Lord Cameron has warned Israel that it will never be secure unless there is "long-term safety, security and stability" for the Palestinian people.

In his first full interview as foreign secretary, he welcomed Friday's pause in the fighting to get hostages out of Gaza and humanitarian aid in.

But he told the BBC that civilian casualties in Gaza were too high.

He also said that Israeli forces must abide by international humanitarian law.

Lord Cameron urged Israel to crack down on what he called "completely unacceptable" violence by settlers in the occupied West Bank.

It was important for Israel to realise, he said, that "it must act in a way that delivers its long-term security" and he said that would ultimately depend on "Palestinians living in peace and stability and security in this land at the same time".

He also said that getting Arab countries involved in working for a future for the Palestinian people that gave them some kind of security was "a very big part of the picture".

Lord Cameron was speaking on the day he visited Ramallah in the West Bank where he met Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority and other senior Palestinian leaders.

He announced the UK would give a further £30m in humanitarian aid to the United Nations and other agencies on the ground in Gaza, mainly shelters, blanket, food and medicine.

He said Israel had a right to self-defence and what happened on 7 October was "completely appalling", but he added: "When I met the Israeli president, prime minister and others, I stressed over and over again that they must abide by international humanitarian law, that the number of casualties are too high and they have to have that at the top of their minds."

He said he would have a "continuous dialogue" with Israel about this and also the rising settler violence in the West Bank.

"People are actually targeting and on occasion killing Palestinian civilians, it's completely unacceptable and those people responsible for that, it's not good enough just to arrest them, they need to be arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned. These are crimes."

Lord Cameron said he had come to Israel to talk to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders about the future.

"There won't be long term safety and security and stability for Israel, unless there is long term safety, security and stability for the Palestinian people," he said.

"And you have to start thinking about the future…you've got to paint a picture of Palestinians living in peace and stability."

He added: "You've got to think about what will happen in Gaza after this conflict has finished and how is that going to be stabilised? How is that going to be secure? How's it going to be governed.

"And then you've got to think about how you start to build the capacity for there to be a state in which Palestinians can live in stability and security, that, of course, that's difficult. But you have to try."