The killing and destruction must stop
3 min read
On 7 October 2023 the latest escalation in more than 75 years of conflict occurred when Hamas launched its appalling attack on Israel – killing more than 1,000 people, Israelis and foreign nationals alike, and taking 251 hostages.
A year on, we mourn the loss of all life and demand the return of all hostages.
Israel’s response, however, has made the situation worse with a disproportionate and indiscriminate attack on Gaza and the collective punishment of the Palestinian people – killing more than 40,000. Its military action failed to release its hostages and has widened the conflict across the Middle East.
Israel has turned Gaza to rubble, with more destruction seen than in Dresden or Mariupol. Experts say the 37m tonnes of rubble (some with unexploded ordinance) will take a minimum of 14 years to clear. And it leaves a humanitarian crisis for the millions of Gazans left struggling to find clean water and food, and facing a winter without power.
Israel’s government has become more extreme in both its rhetoric and military behaviour
Israel’s government has become more extreme in both its rhetoric and military behaviour, despite knowing more hostages were released in the truce in November 2023 than in the months of fighting before or after.
Instead of seeking a path to lasting peace, the increasingly desperate Netanyahu government has escalated the conflict from Gaza to the West Bank, to Syria, to Yemen and now to Lebanon. It has ordered Israeli forces to bomb refugee camps, carry out assassinations in sovereign territories, attack the Iranian consulate, use booby trapped devices that killed and injured civilians (specifically against rule 80 of the Geneva Conventions), destroy health and educational facilities in Gaza, and now do the same in Beirut and South Lebanon. No wonder the Israeli leadership, along with that of Hamas, has been charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes.
The killing and destruction has to stop. And we need urgently to find a pathway to peace. We have to start with de-escalation. The UK should help to create a nonpartisan team of envoys demanding an immediate ceasefire and working for the immediate release of all hostages. We must stand with the international community to remind Israel of its duty to abide with international law.
The UK needs to stop issuing export licences for all arms and components, not just the limited range already announced – and crucially for parts for F-35 jets.
And we must recognise Palestine as a state, just as 146 other countries have done, and allow it to join the United Nations.
The UK government has taken some small steps to change its direction – the withdrawal of some arms export licences is welcome, as is dropping the blocking of ICC arrest warrants and the re-establishing of support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa). But it needs to go much further.
Every time the government says Israel has its unconditional support to defend itself, it emboldens the Israeli leadership. It needs to condemn Israel’s latest adventure in Lebanon, which will only lead to further escalation from Iran and others.
A change of direction is needed now. The UK can and should take a lead and use its influence in the international community to force that change.
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