Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader Robbie Butler MLA said, “Two years on from the brutal terrorist attacks of 7 October 2023, we pause to reflect on one of the darkest days of our time. On that day, 1,189 Israelis and others were murdered by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists, and a further 251 people were taken hostage into Gaza.

“The scale and savagery of those attacks shocked the world. Even worse, some considered the Hamas attack on that date an act of "resistance", that regrettably revealed a deep-seated intolerance and hatred for Jews and Israel. 

The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, hardly known for being sympathetic to Israel, documented overwhelming evidence of murder, torture, sexual violence, rape, mutilation, and other acts of inhumanity too horrific to fully describe.

“There is no justification, under any terms, for such barbarity. None. 

“Neither does the continued killing of the people of Gaza. 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.

“Let me be clear; the Ulster Unionist Party wants to see peace in the Middle East. We want to see the UK Government take all necessary diplomatic steps to secure a swift and sustained ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, unrestricted humanitarian access, and to support renewed efforts towards a two-state solution in which both Israel and Palestine can exist in peace and security. Anything less is unacceptable.  

“I note the recent efforts from the US Government to bring about peace and we await a positive outcome so that the killing of innocence stops”. 

ENDS