Israel's war on Gaza 'beyond self-defence', senior Tory MP warns

Israel's war in Gaza has gone beyond self-defence and bombing the besieged area into "oblivion" could backfire on them in the future, a senior Conservative MP has warned.

Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said the assault on Hamas and subsequent death toll and destruction throughout Gaza has broken international humanitarian law and that the "lives lost are excessive to the military advantage".

She also called on the UK needs to take a more decisive stance, desxribing Rishi Sunak's call for a "sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza "unclear" that leaves too many questions about the conflict unanswered,

Kearns told BBC Radio 4 that Israel's sustained attack, which is reported to have killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians, may not be in its long-term interest. She said its framing by Israel as a war, rather than a counter-terrorism operation, and the sheer scale of destruction, is "acting as a recruiting sergeant" for Hamas.

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Sunak has been piling pressure on Israel to agree to what he and foreign secretary Lord David Cameron describe as a "sustainable ceasefire", arguing "too many lives have been lost" in the conflict. Downing Street has positioned such a ceasefire as one “that can last, that means that Hamas no longer has a place in Israel, that rockets have stopped firing, that the hostages are returned”.

However, Kearns says the proposal is "just not clear enough". She asked: "Under what conditions are we saying a ceasefire becomes sustainable? How do we get to that place of a sustainable ceasefire? It also doesn’t deal with the biggest question, which is, what is that military outcome which will effectively defeat Hamas at a level that justifies the cost of civilians that’s taking place?"

“What I want to see is a UK-UN Security Council motion. Bombs don’t obliterate an ideology, and neither can a stable state be constructed from oblivion.

Her comments echo those of former defence secretary Ben Wallace, who argued Israel is losing its legal authority over the war with its "killing rage" against the Palestinian people.

While he stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire in the region, he said the "indiscriminate" method of attack on Gaza could "fuel the conflict for another 50 years" and "radicalise Muslim youth across the globe".

Even the US, Israel's strongest ally, has begun taking a tougher stance on the war, with president Joe Biden arguing Tel Aviv is losing international support due to its "indiscriminate bombing". The United Nations Security Council were expected to vote on another resolution seeking a ceasefire on Tuesday.

What's the latest on the Gaza conflict?

The destruction of buildings and complexes where civilians have been seeking shelter, including hospitals and schools has been a major focal point of the war. On Tuesday, at least 13 Palestinians were killed and 17 others wounded following an airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Hamas officials.

Speaking on Tuesday, James Elder, of UN children's agency UNICEF said: "I’m furious that children who are recovering from amputations in hospitals are then killed in those hospitals." He added that Nasser hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, the largest operational hospital left in Gaza, was shelled twice in the past 24 hours. Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has told how she has relatives trapped by Israeli forces in Gaza City's only Catholic church, with people being targeted by snipers.

Signalling on Sunday that Israel has no plan to relent in its attacks, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We will fight until the end. We will achieve all of our aims — eliminating Hamas, freeing all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will not again become a centre for terrorism.”

That same day, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) posted footage showing that it claimed to be “the biggest Hamas terrorist tunnel” in the Gaza Strip. Hamas uses a complex network of underground tunnels to move around Gaza and conceal its activities.

Reports suggest Israel and Hamas are both open to resuming negotiations to exchange hostages and prisoners, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, although major obstacles remain. Netanyahu has been facing pressure at home to bring more hostages home after IDF troops mistakenly shot dead three of them last week.

How close are we to a two-state solution?

Many Western politicians have warned that Israel's actions in Gaza will make it harder to strike a peace deal that will ultimately end with a two-state solution.

The US, the UK and many other countries see an independent Palestinian state established alongside Israel as the only way to achieve peace in the long-term. However, recent warnings from Western leaders about halting this process are likely to fall on deaf ears, as Israel's leadership has been quite clear it has no interest in a two-state solution.

In an interview with Sky News last week, Israel's ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, said there was “absolutely no” prospect of Tel Aviv agreeing to a two-state solution. She added: “Israel knows today, and the world should know now that the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel. They want to have a state from the river to the sea. They are saying it loud and clear.”

Hamas's leadership has taken a hard-line on this issue, with a senior official telling Lebanese TV in October: “We will repeat the October 7 attack time and again until Israel is annihilated.”

This may help explain the UK government's rationale that a ceasefire can only be "sustainable" once Hamas no longer has control over Gaza. But Kearns' comments that "bombs don’t obliterate an ideology" suggests that anger over the mistreatment of Palestinians will remain.

The US has been pushing for the Palestinian Authority, which partially rules the West Bank, to run Gaza as part of a process that would eventually lead to a Palestinian state. But critics have warned the idea may be unrealistic and premature, while Israel has suggested it would oppose such a move.