British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday condemned what he called "the poison of antisemitism rising around the world" after a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former German Nazi concentration camp.
His visit came as many international delegations are expected to attend the January 27 ceremony commemorating 80 years since the Soviet Red Army liberated the death camp built in occupied Poland.
King Charles III will be among those attending the ceremony, Buckingham Palace said Monday, in his first visit to the former camp.
"Time and again we condemn this hatred, and we boldly say 'never again'," Starmer said in a statement following his visit.
"But where is never again, when we see the poison of antisemitism rising around the world" in the aftermath of October 7th, he added.
The Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas staged the deadliest attack in Israeli history.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has left 46,876 people dead, the majority civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, figures the UN has described as reliable.
Last week, the Polish government said it would grant free access to Israeli officials wanting to attend the commemoration, despite a warrant issued in November by the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had information from the Israeli embassy that the country would be represented by its education minister.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the warrant in November over the Gaza war, prompting outrage from Israel and its allies.
Auschwitz has become a symbol of Nazi Germany's genocide of six million European Jews, one million of whom died at the site between 1940 and 1945, along with more than 100,000 non-Jews.