UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer
UK Prime Minister Keir StarmerPA Images via Reuters Connect

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has rejected the accusations that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip and scolded the MP who made them.

During a Prime Minister's Questions session in the House of Commons on Wednesday, MP Ayoub Khan, an Independent representing Birmingham Perry Barr, stated: "Genocide is not about numbers. It's about intent. And the intent of the Israeli government and the IDF has been explicitly clear in words and inactions over the past 400 days”.

According to him, there were “more than 45,000 innocent men, women and children killed”, without mentioning that those casualty figures, provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, do not distinguish between terrorists and civilians.

Being that Starmer and his Defence Secretary David Lammy have rejected the accusations of genocide before, The MP requested that the Prime Minister “share his definition of genocide with this House.”

Starmer retorted: "It would be wise to start a question like that by reference to what happened in October of last year”, to which the members of his party applauded.

He continued: “I'm well aware of the definition of genocide, and that is why I've never referred to it as genocide.”

Later in the session, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called on the Prime Minister to classify the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terror organization after it attempted to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump.

Farage pondered: “Has the time not come, Prime Minister, to proscribe what is so obviously a terrorist organization, and in doing so, not just do the right thing, but maybe mend some fences between this government and the incoming Presidency of Donald Trump’s?”

Starmer quipped about Farage's presence at Trump's victory party, joking that he "was half-expecting to see him on the immigration statistics.”

He then turned serious and stated: "The point he makes about Iran is a very serious point and we will work across the House and with our allies on it. And as far as the question of prescription, we keep it under review."