The Labour leader said on Sunday that there can be ‘no justification’ for the operation that has left at least 600 dead.
Sir Keir Starmer clearly labelled Hamas’s deadly assault on Israel a “terrorist attack”, in contrast to Jeremy Corbyn who resisted directly condemning the militant group.
The Labour leader said on Sunday that there can be “no justification” for the operation that has left at least 600 dead, including a British man serving in the Israeli army, and provoked a furious response from Israel that killed more than 300 in Gaza.
His predecessor said he does not “support any attacks”, but sought to avoid directly criticising Hamas while being questioned in Liverpool, where Mr Corbyn is attending a left-wing political festival instead of the Labour conference.
In a tetchy exchange with journalists on the way to one event, Mr Corbyn said he wants “peace, a ceasefire and a process that ends the Israeli occupation of Palestine”.
“I don’t support any attacks, therefore I criticise them all,” he said, after being repeatedly asked whether he would condemn Hamas, having not been clear about his position on the group.
Mr Corbyn is sitting as an independent MP after being removed from Labour’s parliamentary party over his response to antisemitism under his leadership, but remains a party member.
Sir Keir was quick to criticise Hamas for launching thousands of rockets towards Israel in a surprise attack on land, sea and air.
“This is an appalling attack on Israel, a terrorist attack, for which there is no justification,” he said in an interview with the BBC.
“The perpetrators of this have deliberately pushed back the prospect of peace agreements.”
He said he spoke to the leader of the Israeli Labour Party, Merav Michaeli, on Saturday night.
“As we were on the phone the siren went off and she had to go down into her shelter taking her papers with her,” he said.
“So it’s an appalling act of terrorism, it needs to be called out across the world.”
Sir Keir’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, said he would not “mince my words” in describing Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
He told a conference fringe event that Labour remains committed to a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East.
“Hamas are seeking to undermine that. They are seeking to break that, they are approaching this with rockets and with terrorism.”
Hamas is an Islamist military group which has since 2007 ruled over the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded by Israel.
Backed by Iran, Hamas is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UK, US and the EU.
