Steve Reed: Starmer's stance on Gaza is consistent
The shadow environment secretary says Sir Keir Starmer's stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict "has been consistent all the way through this". His support for the Labour leader comes as backlash grows within the party over Starmer's stance on the conflict and after around 250 Muslim Labour councillors wrote to him demanding a call for a ceasefire. Steve Reed adds Israel "must dismantle the terrorist capability" of Hamas who carried out a deadly incursion into the country on October 7. Report by Brooksl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00 Well, Labour's been clear from the outset that following such a horrific terrorist attack
00:06 on Israel, the worst in its entire existence, Israel has the right to defend itself. But
00:12 in doing that, it must follow international law. And we've all seen the situation on our
00:17 screens that's going on in Gaza, and nobody watching that can feel anything other than
00:21 absolute anguish at the suffering that innocent civilians are facing because of what's happening.
00:27 Labour's calling now for a humanitarian pause in line with the administration in the United
00:33 States in order that foreign nationals can get out. There are around 100 British citizens,
00:38 we understand, stuck in Gaza, and they need to be got out, but also to allow more aid
00:43 in. There's been a trickle of trucks so far. It's a drop in the ocean compared to what
00:47 is needed. There needs to be a pause to allow in the food, the water, the fuel, the medicines
00:55 that people in Gaza need right now, and Labour is calling for that to happen. I completely
00:59 empathise with people who feel nothing but anguish and horror at what they're seeing
01:03 on their screens. But a ceasefire would mean disabling Israel from dismantling the terrorist
01:10 infrastructure that was behind those horrific attacks that we saw on Israel just a couple
01:15 of weeks ago. If they don't dismantle it, it will happen again, and it will trigger
01:19 another reaction, and we'll just end up in a cycle of death on both sides. Israel has
01:24 to dismantle the terrorist capability. In doing that, they must abide by international
01:28 law, but right now we see the pain that is going on in Gaza. It's happening, by the way,
01:34 in part because Hamas have deliberately placed their terrorist fighters, their bombs and
01:38 weapons in densely populated areas, underneath schools, underneath hospitals, and they've
01:43 done that not because they care about Palestinians' lives, but they don't care at all. They put
01:49 them in harm's way. It's very, very incumbent on Israel to do everything they can to protect
01:55 civilian life, but they, just like any other state, would not wish to leave in place a
02:01 network of terrorism that could get their citizens killed in the way that we saw recently.
02:07 I really understand people's anguish, but Keir Starmer has been consistent all the way
02:12 through this. Following the worst attack on Israeli civilians in Israel's entire existence,
02:18 Israel has the right to defend itself, but it must do that in line with international
02:23 law. A ceasefire would mean they would not be able to dismantle the terrorist capability
02:28 and the Hamas terrorists would come in and slaughter yet more people. No state would
02:33 tolerate that. We wouldn't tolerate that. The US wouldn't tolerate that, and nor should
02:37 Israel. But we also see the horror, the catastrophe unfolding on the streets of Gaza right now,
02:43 and we're calling for that humanitarian pause to get people out of areas that are likely
02:47 to be under attack, to protect their lives and to get the aid in, food, water, medicine,
02:53 fuel, to protect life and protect people's ability to continue living in these quite
02:58 atrocious circumstances. Short term, this situation, Israel needs to deal with it to
03:03 protect itself from future attacks. Long term, we need much more effort from the entire international
03:09 community to negotiate a political settlement that will guarantee a secure Israel and a
03:15 secure Palestine and a Labour government will lead, will seek to play its part in leading
03:20 the international community as we seek that long term just peace for both Israelis and
03:25 for Palestinians. I mean, it's not for me as a politician here in the safety of London
03:32 to be saying what is or is not a war crime. We have the International Criminal Court that
03:36 will deal with that. We can all see the humanitarian crisis unfolding on our screens. You know,
03:41 you don't need special insight to see that, which is why Labour is calling now for a humanitarian
03:46 pause to get British nationals and other foreign nationals out to get aid in to support the
03:52 Palestinians right now.