On a call with Joe Biden this weekend, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s demand for security control over Gaza once Hamas has been destroyed, and said that this was incompatible with Palestinian sovereignty. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps described Netanyahu’s views as ‘disappointing’, and said that the two-state solution is the only option. However, he described Israel’s government as a ‘rainbow coalition’, and said it was important to distinguish between the view’s of Netanyahu as an individual, and the UK’s support for Israel as a country.

Is the UK preparing for war with Russia?

Nato military chief Admiral Rob Bauer claimed this week that the West could be at war with Russia within 20 years. On GB News, Camilla Tominey asked Grant Shapps if he agreed with this view. Shapps said it wasn’t inevitable, but NATO needed to be prepared, and Putin must not be allowed to succeed in Ukraine. The government aims to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence, but they are currently falling below that figure. Tominey asked Shapps whether the government should be spending more, given the current global instability. Shapps said defence spending was higher than it had ever been, but agreed it needed to go up.

Yvette Cooper on immigration: ‘I don’t think you can set specific numbers’

Laura Kuenssberg spoke to shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper about immigration. 40,000 asylum claims were accepted last year, and Kuenssberg asked Cooper whether she thought that number was too high. Cooper repeatedly refused to give her opinion on the amount of immigration, instead saying the UK needed to respond to global events like the war in Ukraine. Cooper said it was important to stop the boat crossings because they undermine border security and put lives at risk, and that more budget should be spent helping refugees to get support in neighbouring countries to their own.

Humza Yousaf: lack of ‘moral courage’ when it comes to Israel-Palestine conflict

The Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf told Laura Kuenssberg he felt that a lack of leadership and moral courage was the reason why other politicians were not calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. He claimed Keir Starmer’s reluctance to do so was another example of him not being clear with his beliefs. Kuenssberg asked whether Yousaf felt that Palestinian lives were valued differently, and Yousaf agreed, saying many in the Muslim community felt that Palestinian ‘blood is very cheap’.

Should the West strike directly at Iran?

Finally, Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton spoke to Trevor Phillips on Sky News about Iran’s strategy against Israel and the West. Phillips asked if the US should be attacking Iran directly instead of its proxies like the Houthis. Bolton agreed, saying the conflict in the Middle East was a deliberate implementation of Iran’s ‘ring of fire’ strategy against Israel, and they wouldn’t stop unless direct action was taken, such as attacking air defence sites inside Iran or sinking Iranian ships.