How might Labour’s policy differ from the Conservatives?

So early in Lammy’s tenure, much of this remains hypothetical. O’Sullivan points to three key areas that could indicate a direction of travel: funding for the Palestinian relief works agency Unrwa, the question of whether UK arms sales to Israel will continue, and whether the Conservative government’s objection to prospective ICC warrants for the arrest of Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials will be maintained.

“Lammy has indicated he will have something to say about Unrwa in the coming days,” O’Sullivan said. Barbara Woodward, the UK’s envoy to the UN, has said Lammy is “closely considering” whether to restore funding – a move that would be in line with most countries that withdrew it over Israeli allegations that it had been infiltrated by Hamas, allegations that have not been substantiated. Lammy urged the government to restore funding in April.

Last month, Lammy said the UK would comply with an ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu. But yesterday the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that Lammy had given assurances to Israel that the UK would maintain the last government’s objection to the ICC’s application for warrants, echoing Patrick Wintour’s report for the Guardian last week. The human rights barrister Geoffrey Robinson meanwhile warned that Washington is putting pressure on the UK to lodge the objection, which he called a “legal nonsense”, writing: “The US is not a member of the ICC, and expects the UK to look after its interests there.”

On arms exports, “Labour called for the publication of legal advice given to the government,” O’Sullivan said. “So will they do that themselves? It isn’t clear yet what they’re going to do there.” In May, Lammy said that if a Rafah offensive went ahead, the UK should suspend sales of weapons that could be used to prosecute it.