Priti Patel visited an Israeli army hospital in the occupied Golan Heights during her trip to Israel, breaching protocol by visiting an area internationally regarded as illegally occupied Syrian territory.

Britain has gone to great lengths not to give an imprimatur of legitimacy to the Israeli occupation of the Golan. For a cabinet minister to visit the Israeli army in occupied territory in any capacity is unheard of.

Senior Israeli defence sources acknowledged that Ms Patel, the international development secretary, had visited the site, although she did not disclose the engagement in a list of meetings released after news of her trip emerged.

The visit was coordinated by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which would have been aware of the protocol breach. Unusually, it was not