Netanyahu and Sunak speak after RAF helped repel Iranian attack

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday, three days after Royal Air Force warplanes helped to protect the Jewish state from an Iranian aerial assault.

UK officials said the two leaders spoke on Tuesday afternoon, more than 24 hours after Sunak had told the Commons that he would be speaking to Netanyahu “shortly”.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Sunak had “reiterated the UK’s steadfast support for Israel’s security and for wider regional stability”, but added that “significant escalation was in no one’s interest and would only deepen insecurity in the Middle East”.

“This was a moment for calm heads to prevail,” he said.

Sunak also told Netanyahu that the UK “remained gravely concerned” about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, telling him that Israel “should open up new aid routes as quickly as possible”.

During the call, the Israeli leader thanked the UK for its “rapid and robust” support during Iran’s “reckless and dangerous” attack on Saturday.

Netanyahu is facing considerable domestic pressure to rebuff calls by the UK, the US and the EU to show restraint after Iran’s attack.

His far-right coalition allies are demanding massive retaliation against Iran even as Israel’s western allies are counselling caution and restraint in order to prevent a regional war.

Like Sunak, foreign secretary Lord David Cameron, who is expected to travel to Israel on Tuesday evening to meet his Israeli counterparts, has made clear that Britain opposes further action. “We’re saying very strongly that we don’t support a retaliatory strike,” he said on Monday.

Netanyahu spoke to US President Joe Biden on the night of attack, in which a US-led coalition of warplanes, including a number from the UK, knocked out dozens of drones and missiles heading towards Israel.

The Israeli prime minister has also spoken to the Republican House Majority leader, Congressman Steve Scalise, who offered full-throated support to Netanyahu, according to the prime minister’s office.

Scalise made changes to the US legislative calendar in order to “consider legislation that supports our ally Israel”, a reference to a $14bn military aid package that is stalled in Congress.

In contrast with the position of the UK and other allies of Israel, the congressman had also “expressed support for any decision that Israel makes in light of the Iranian attack”, Netanyahu’s office said.

Iran’s attack, the first directly launched from its territory against Israel, came in response to a suspected Israeli strike this month on its consulate in Damascus that killed several senior Iranian commanders.