British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reaffirmed his support for Israel and the Jewish community in the UK one week into the Israel-Hamas war.
Remarking on the “horror and barbarism unleashed in Israel” by the Hamas terrorist group a week ago, the prime minister said he’s “unequivocal” in the UK’s support for Israel and the British Jewish community, “not just today, not just tomorrow, but always.”
The statement came as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are set to launch an offensive aimed at eliminating Hamas.
Responding to Mr. Sunak’s remarks, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive Sacha Deshmukh said it’s “right” that the prime minister “expressed horror at the cruel and brutal crimes against Israeli civilians” by Hamas, which “showed a chilling disregard for life and included war crimes.”
“Israel’s massive bombing campaign in Gaza has already killed at least 1,900 people and injured more than 8,000. The collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population through restricting water, fuel, food, and electricity is a war crime, and the Israeli army’s order to people in northern Gaza to ‘evacuate’ amounts to forced displacement,” Mr. Deshmukh stated.
On Oct. 7, Hamas launched thousands of missiles toward Israel and seized Israeli villages, prompting Israel to declare war for the first time in 50 years.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later told U.S. President Joe Biden that terrorists had “massacred” hundreds, including children; “brutally raped and murdered” women; and took hostages, also including children.
Hamas denied having targeted children.
According to the IDF and the Israeli Health Ministry, over 1,300 Israelis were killed, including 265 soldiers; 3,715 were injured; and people from over 120 families were taken hostage. An additional 21 soldiers have been killed since the initial attack, including attacks on the border with Lebanon.
The Gaza Health Ministry claimed 2,329 people have been killed in Gaza as the IDF has been bombing targets in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry is under the control of Hamas and The Epoch Times is unable to verify the number killed. Hamas continues to fire rockets toward Israel; in previous conflicts, a portion of them have fallen inside Gaza causing casualties that have not been accounted for.
The IDF has urged civilians in Gaza City to evacuate to the south as it prepares to target Hamas’s network of underground tunnels.
The United Nations and other charities have said it’s difficult for vulnerable people, such as children, pregnant women, or the sick and the disabled to leave, and called on Israel not to target hospitals, schools, clinics, and U.N. locations, but the IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Hamas has used hospitals and U.N. buildings as command centers by digging tunnels.
IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus also cited intelligence sources, saying Hamas has been “actively” blocking Gaza civilians from evacuating.
Speaking to Times Radio on Saturday, Orly Goldschmidt, spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy to the UK, insisted that Israel was not targeting civilians, but admitted that innocent people would be casualties of the war against Hamas in Gaza.
“There will be innocent people who will pay tragically with their life, but this is a state of war and we have to prevent anyone from harming us again,” she said.
Hamas is a proscribed terrorist group in the UK, the United States, and the European Union among other jurisdictions. It took control of Gaza in 2007 from its secular rival Fatah. The latter favours peaceful negotiations for a two-state solution while Hamas uses violent attacks against Israelis, which they see as occupiers of Palestinian territory.
