Page last updated at 16:38 GMT, Wednesday, 2 June 2010 17:38 UK

Statement on Gaza flotilla

Israel's actions in seizing an aid flotilla bound for Gaza went "beyond what was warranted or proportionate", Foreign Secretary William Hague has told MPs.

In a Commons statement on 2 June 2010, he said that 37 British nationals had been involved in Sunday's raid in which at least nine people were killed.

Mr Hague said that ministers "deeply deplore" the loss of life, expressing "disappointment" that consular staff had only been given access to 28 of the 37 British nationals being held.

The UK had joined international calls for a "full, credible, impartial and independent" investigation into these events.

Shadow foreign secretary David Miliband lent his voice to the criticism of Israel's raid.

"The attack by the Israeli defence force is the latest in a series of self-defeating and deadly moves by successive Israeli governments in Gaza," he argued.

"The language of condemnation is used very sparingly in international relations," Mr Miliband said.

But he called on ministers to "condemn the loss of innocent civilian life", predicting that it would set "a very dangerous precedent" if they failed to do so.

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