Hague warns against Gaza ground assault
The foreign secretary says Israel risks losing sympathy from the international community if it launches an invasion of the Palestinian territory with ground troops.
William Hague insisted that the militant group Hamas bears “principal responsibility” for sparking the current conflict in Gaza after firing rockets into southern Israel.
But he cautioned that Britain would find it more difficult to support the Jewish state if its leaders decide to stage a repeat of the full-scale invasion that led to the deaths of 13 Israelis and more than 1,000 Palestinians in the winter of 2008/09.
His comments came after reports that Israel‘s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had told the country’s military to prepare for a “serious broadening” of operations in Gaza, which has so far been limited to airstrikes and naval shelling.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Hague said: “We call on Hamas again to stop the rocket attacks on Israel. It is Hamas that bears principal responsibility for starting all of this and we would like to see an agreed ceasefire – an essential component of which is an end to those rocket attacks.
A ground invasion of Gaza would lose Israel a lot of the international support and sympathy they have in this situation. William Hague
“The prime minister and I have both stressed to our Israeli counterparts that a ground invasion of Gaza would lose Israel a lot of the international support and sympathy they have in this situation.
“A ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community to sympathise with or support, including the United Kingdom.”
Mr Hague accused Iran of supplying Hamas militants with arms and the rockets which sparked the current crisis.
He added: “We not only have the Gaza conflict going on, but the appalling situation in Syria, rising tensions with Iran over their nuclear programme.
“It’s very important to see the full strategic context of this – it’s also very important to be able to get the Middle East peace process going again in a serious way in the coming weeks and months and it’s important not to do things that make it even more difficult to do that.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander told the BBC: “I’ve already called for an end to the violence.
“There have tragically been the deaths of three Israelis but more than 40 Palestinians. It simply does not make sense for there to be an escalation to the violence when we need the violence to end and the talking to begin.”
WHO hospital warning
The World Health Organization has said that hospitals in Gaza are overwhelmed with casualties from the Israeli bombing campaign.
Medics in the Palestinian territory face critical shortages of drugs and medical supplies as deaths and injuries mount, the organisation has warned.
The UN agency is appealing for $10m (£6.3m) from donors to buy emergency drugs and supplies over the next three months.