Armed Forces minister James Heappey said Israel faced the “devil’s own choice” in its determination to defend itself against the terror group while also seeking to minimise civilian casualties.
He stressed that delaying a ground assault into Gaza would only allow Hamas more time to “melt away”, and move rocket and ammunition stocks, and then the risk for the offensive is that “all of this comes to nought” after the terror group’s Islamic State-style slaughter of more than 1,300 Israelis.
Israel has very sophisticated intelligence gathering capabilities which should allow it to prosecute its mission “with precision”, he argued. But former soldier Mr Heappey added on ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “That is not to say, however, that there are not going to be some incredibly grim scenes on our TV scenes over the next few days and weeks.”
He insisted that Israel was doing everything it could practically do to reduce civilian casualties, with its direction to a million people in Gaza city and the strip’s north to move to the south, which he accepted was very difficult for those forced to move. But the death toll of Palestinians in Israeli attacks in recent days has already risen above 2,700, according to health chiefs in Gaza, with whole buildings flattened.
As the horrors of the conflict were growing:
- US president Joe Biden warned Israel not to reoccupy Gaza, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes: “I think it’d be a big mistake.” But he added that “taking out the extremists... is a necessary requirement” after the Hamas attacks in southern Israel which killed more than 1,300 people, as well as at least 30 US citizens, and a number of British nationals.
- Hopes rose this morning that the Rafah crossing from southern Gaza into Egypt would be re-opened, allowing desperately needed aid to flow into the besieged strip, and for foreign nationals to be able to flee the war zone. But the expected move did not take place as planned at 7am UK time.
- Martin Griffiths, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said he hoped that emergency aid would reach Gaza through Rafah today. He told Radio 4: “There is an international humanitarian law requirement that for people to move out of harm’s way in a war is one thing, but to do it in a way that they have access to places of safety that they can choose, aid that will allow them to move safely, is imperative. And this is being breached.”
- But Israel’s ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely denied there was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. She told Sky News: “Israel is in charge of the safety of Israelis, Hamas is in charge of the safety of the Palestinians.” She added: “This is the time that Hamas need to pay the price.”
- She highlighted the scale of the horrendous atrocities committed by Hamas, adding that two teenage British girls, aged 13 and 16, were among a reported 199 hostages seized by the terror group and taken to Gaza.
- The Israeli military ordered people living in 28 communities near the Lebanese border to evacuate amid increasing cross-border fire between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group.
- The US and UK were beefing up their military presence close to Israel, said Mr Heappey, in a warning to other nations and terror groups not to seek to escalate the conflict into a wider regional war.
- He also repeated pleas for Israel to meet the “higher standard” expected of democracies in how it responds to events, even those as horrific as the Hamas mass killing.
- Rishi Sunak was due to address MPs this afternoon about the crisis in Israel and Gaza, as politicians return to Westminster after the party conference break.
Israel said today that no ceasefire had been implemented in southern Gaza, even though security sources in Egypt said a deal had been reached to allow foreigners out of the besieged Palestinian enclave and aid to be brought in through the Rafah crossing. Egyptian security sources said Israel had agreed to a halt its bombardment of southern Gaza as part of a deal which would see the crossing open temporarily. But Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said: “There is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out.”
Hundreds of tons of aid have been held up in Egypt for days pending a deal for its safe delivery to Gaza and the evacuation of some foreign passport holders through the Rafah crossing.
Gaza’s food, water and medicine supplies are dwindling. Hospitals say they are on the verge of collapse and unable to heed Israeli demands to evacuate patients. The Gaza health ministry said more than 2,700 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded since the fighting erupted. More than 1,300 Israelis have died. At least 155 others were captured by Hamas, according to Israel.
