Kemi Badenoch has praised Israel’s defence tactics, saying that they did an “amazing thing with the pagers”.

Earlier this month, Hezbollah suffered an attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000 – including many fighters but also many civilians.

Israel has appeared to deny involvement with the fatal incident, with its president Isaac Herzog saying he “rejects out of hand any connection” to the operation.

People ask Israel to do things like be more targeted so you don’t harm civilians, they did that amazing thing with the pagers, and when they did that they were criticised for it

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, Ms Badenoch said she is “very sympathetic to the Israeli argument” because they are “always criticised”.

The Tory party leadership hopeful also said she sympathises with Palestinians who are “caught in the middle”.

Asked what the Tory party’s position should be on the war in the Middle East, between Israel and Hamas, she replied: “My position has always been very clear, Israel has a right to defend itself.

“The UK is an ally of Israel, I stand with Israel, we cannot stand with Hezbollah, we cannot stand with Hamas – we know who the bad guys are.

“Islamist terrorism is something that should never, ever be appeased, it is extremely dangerous.

“Israel is at the front line, it is surrounded by a lot of enemies, I think that what they are doing is extraordinary.

“People said that getting the leader of Hezbollah couldn’t be done.

“People ask Israel to do things like be more targeted so you don’t harm civilians, they did that amazing thing with the pagers, and when they did that they were criticised for it.

But we mustn’t forget the Palestinian people who are not Hamas, they are unfortunately caught in the middle of this terrible war, I think that we should do all that we can to help them, I sympathise with them

“They’re always criticised, so I’m very sympathetic to the Israeli argument.

“But we mustn’t forget the Palestinian people who are not Hamas, they are unfortunately caught in the middle of this terrible war, I think that we should do all that we can to help them, I sympathise with them.

“But I think if Israel can get rid of Hamas that’s also going to be fantastic for the Palestinian people.”