Two Britons are still being held hostage in Gaza, Lord Cameron has said.
The Foreign Secretary told MPs: “There are two British nationals who remain as hostages. I don’t want to make any further comment on them.”
Asked by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee if the two were still alive, he said: “I just don’t want to say any more. We don’t have any information to share with you.”
An estimated 240 people were taken prisoner in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 attacks against Israel.
During a ceasefire in November, 105 were released.
Lord Cameron also declined to say whether he had seen any Foreign Office legal advice stating that Israel has breached international humanitarian law in Gaza.
Taking questions from committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns, he said: “The reason for not answering this question, I cannot recall every single bit of paper that has been put in front of me. I look at everything.”
“Of course, there are a lot of things that have happened where you think surely that was something that shouldn’t have happened.”
Lord Cameron refused to go further, telling MPs it was not his job to make a “legal adjudication”.
He did acknowledge that he had seen things regarding the conflict that have been “deeply concerning” while also calling on Israel to restore the water supply to Gaza.
But he declined to be drawn on whether the deprivation of water breached humanitarian law, saying that restoring supplies “is just something they ought to do, in my view”.
He also said he had seen figures suggesting Hamas has “lost over 50% of their capability and capacity in terms of being able to launch rockets and all the rest of it”.
Tory MP Bob Seely asked whether Foreign Office lawyers have advised that Israel is vulnerable to challenge from international courts in the Hague. Lord Cameron replied: “It’s close to that.” He also said Houthi attacks in the Red Sea in the wake of the Gaza conflict were “unacceptable” in one of the “most important sea lanes”, adding: “They need to be told…that consequences follow.”
He also dismissed as “bunk” criticisms about his decision as PM to intervene in Libya in 2011. He said: “We acted to prevent what could have been a huge humanitarian crisis and slaughter.” The peer said he was told Colonel Gaddafi was heading to Benghazi “where he was threatening to kill large numbers of his own people”.
