The death of three British citizens in an Israeli strike has prompted fierce condemnation from the UK government. In a phone call on Tuesday night, Rishi Sunak told his counterpart told Benjamin Netanyahu that he was ‘appalled’ by the attack, which killed seven aid workers in a World Central Kitchen convoy. Sunak said that ‘far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza and the situation is increasingly intolerable.’ He is now urging the Israelis to launch a ‘thorough and independent investigation into what happened.’

The three men killed – James Henderson, John Chapman and James Kirby – were all Armed Forces veterans and their deaths dominate the front pages of the national press today. Sunak’s sentiments are echoed by Keir Starmer, who condemned the attack as ‘outrageous’, ‘unacceptable’ and ‘horrifying’, adding: ‘This war must stop now. Far too many innocent people have died in this conflict.’ The Israeli ambassador, Tzipi Hotovely, was summoned to the Foreign Office for a 30-minute meeting with Andrew Mitchell; Lord Cameron has reportedly cut short his Easter break too.

The effect of the Israeli strike is likely to make it harder to deliver much-needed aid to Gaza, with agencies unwilling to risk the lives of their staff. The WCF has now suspended its operations in the area, with the Cypriot foreign ministry expecting ships bearing some 240 tonnes of aid to turn around without completing their delivery. Erin Gore, the charity’s chief executive, described it as: ‘An attack on humanitarian organisations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war.’

In Westminster, the strike will increase pressure on the Foreign Office to release advice on whether Israel is complying with international law. By precedent, UK government legal advice is not published, but Labour claims it is not possible to have an informed debate on Gaza without full access to the advice rather than fragmentary responses in oral answers. Cameron confirmed at the beginning of March that he would be receiving advice on any potential breaches ‘in the coming days’.

Four weeks on, the line from both Downing Street and the FCDO is say that they never comment on legal advice – even though Cameron has previously done exactly that. If the legal advice does point to breaches of international law then that would have obvious implications for the relationship between Britain and Israel including arms sales and intelligence-sharing.