Middle East

(asked on 3rd September 2014) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the Israeli government in its campaign against Hamas.


Answered by
Tobias Ellwood Portrait
Tobias Ellwood
This question was answered on 9th September 2014

Throughout Operation Protective Edge, we condemned Hamas’ indiscriminate attacks on Israeli civilians and reaffirmed our support to Israel’s right to self defence. We have also repeatedly made clear that Hamas must renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept previously signed agreements. Hamas need to be part of any ceasefire negotiations in response to the current Gaza crisis - we support Egyptian-led efforts to this end. Today, the UK has three objectives - to maintain a ceasefire, to alleviate humanitarian suffering, and to get meaningful negotiations underway so that we can begin to address the underlying causes of the conflict on both sides, which is the only hope of breaking this cycle of violence and devastation once and for all. We stand ready to play our full part in supporting a settlement.

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