Doug Beattie MC MLA said, “It was only a matter of weeks ago my colleague Robbie Butler MLA had highlighted how the conflict in the Middle East was worsening and that the suffering of innocent people, both Israeli and Palestinian, could no longer be ignored. The widespread suffering was impacting ordinary people, including children, the elderly and the disabled.

“A Palestinian child is as precious as an Israeli child. Both, like all other children, deserve to live, thrive, and grow up free from violence. That is not what we are witnessing in the Middle East, and particularly in Gaza.

“I believe Hamas needs to be destroyed, dismantled, and removed from having influence over the Palestinian people. The Hamas leadership watch from afar, in relative luxury in Qatar and other Gulf states, while the innocent Palestinian people suffer. I believe there must be a long-term ceasefire, that Israeli hostages must be released, and UN humanitarian corridors established, both without conditions. I believe that there should be a two-state solution allowing both Israel and Palestine the right to exist and live free from global threats. I believe Iran should be held to account as a rogue state that has sponsored terrorism in the region through Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

“Those who promote these terrorist groups inadvertently promote Iran’s human rights abuses, their persecution of LGBTQI+ people, their lack of rights for women and girls and their crackdown on ethnic and religious minorities as well as the jailing and torture of political activists. Without a doubt, Iran has been responsible for destabilising the region, not just between the Palestinians and Israelis, but in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. The international community must deal with Iran if we are to deal with the region.

“However, Israel must realise that their reaction to the horrendous and murderous terrorist attack on 7th October 2023 is now starting to look like revenge. I have no issue with the Israeli Defence Force using lethal force to eliminate armed terrorists in the form of Hamas, but their actions have created too many civilian casualties, colloquially referred to as ‘collateral damage’. Well, dead, injured, and starving children are not collateral damage, and the level of suffering is not acceptable and impossible to support.

“In war or conflict, standing armies and governments must adhere to the Laws of Armed Conflict. This is based on international humanitarian law and treaty law, which binds all states. At its core are four principles: necessity, humanity, proportionality, and distinction.

“It is hard to see how Israel is adhering to these very clear principles; ‘necessity’ and ‘humanity’ does not mean starving a population to meet your military aims. It means the opposite. It means you do not target innocent people by withholding food, medicines, and essential services, which creates unnecessary suffering. Proportionality and distinction means you must separate and create a distinction between combatants and non-combatants. It also means that putting a 120mm HE tank round through a kitchen window to kill a terrorist, or dropping a 500lb JDAM on an apartment block, knowing it will kill countless other non-combatants, is not proportionate.

“Hamas do hide amongst the civilian population. That is what terrorists do; that is why legal military forces develop Training, Tactics, and Procedures to counter this odious terrorist threat. The increasing civilian casualty count is handing a propaganda victory to Hamas, Iran, and their acolytes while at the same time leaving the innocent Palestinians devastated. It is time Israel stopped, reset, and began ensuring humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza while ensuring their targeting of Hamas terrorists adheres to the Laws of Armed Conflict.

“We, the Ulster Unionist Party, have written to the Prime Minister urging him to take the required diplomatic steps in response to the worsening situation in Gaza. What is happening in the Middle East is appalling. It is an assault on the senses, and it cannot continue.”