Ipswich MP Tom Hunt on ongoing Gaza conflict in Israel

I went to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the West Bank (including Ramallah the capital) and the border with Gaza.

During the visit I spent some time in a Kibbutz right on the border between Israel and Gaza. It was within an area called the “five second zone”. This meant that residents had five seconds to find shelter from the time an air raid alarm sounded, and a rocket hit the ground close to where they lived.

Ipswich MP Tom Hunt spent time in Kfar Aza during a 2019 visit. (Image: Tom Hunt)

Despite the knowledge that danger was never far away, I remember life at the Kibbutz as being relaxed and peaceful.

It might come as a surprise, but they didn’t come across as particularly political, their overriding desire was just to get on with life in peace and wished no ill will on anyone. We had lunch and met a range of community members, both young and old.

The name of this Kibbutz, this close-knit community, was called Kfar Aza. On October 7 this year, the life of this peaceful community was shattered forever. On this day 70 Hamas terrorists launched a brutal assault on the community and so far over 100 of the community have been confirmed dead and many others are missing.

Without any shadow of doubt, many of the people who I met whilst visiting Kfar Aza just over four years ago will now be dead.

What happened that day in Kfar Aza and in other places across Israel, including at the music festival, was pure evil.

Those who carried out this attack are terrorists and it’s impossible to see how you could ever deal with individuals and the organisation that sanctioned such evil.

Israel clearly has a right to self-defence. Sadly, due to the tactics of Hamas we are now seeing a surge of fatalities in Gaza. This is very much part of the Hamas playbook as they look to use innocent civilians as human shields.

I mourn the loss of innocent Palestinians like I mourn the loss of innocent Israeli’s. They are all the victims of a hell-bent terrorist organisation focused on nothing but hatred and division.

Israel is clearly right to want to take steps to break the grip that Hamas has on Gaza to ensure that such terror is never inflicted on its citizens again. Imagine how we’d feel if such a thing had happened in the UK?

However, I also agree that it’s right and proper that everything is done to minimise human suffering and try to avoid contagion blowing this up into a regional conflict.

Doing this whilst dealing a hammer blow to Hamas, an organisation that uses the innocent as human shields, will be deeply complex and difficult. Nevertheless, all efforts must be made to do so.

The vast majority of us can unite in condemning the evil of Hamas, whilst at the same time sharing great concern for the people of Gaza.

I say the majority, as sadly events of the past couple of weeks demonstrate that there is a minority who seem perfectly happy to be apologists for terror, and to revel in the massacre of the innocent.

The glorification of terror carried out by a proscribed terrorist organisation such as Hamas, is against the law and it is critical that the Police deal with this robustly.

I continue to monitor developments closely and pray for peace. I do, however, believe that this really must be the end of the road for Hamas.