British Foreign Secretary claims Hamas plan to escalate war

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has claimed that Hamas want to escalate the war with Israel, to the wider Middle East region.

The Conservative MP for Braintree made his comments, stressing that Israel must minimise civilian deaths to deter Hamas’ agenda to bring others directly into the conflict.

He was speaking on Sky News Trevor Phillips On Sunday Morning programme, alongside Labour’s David Lammy, as they discussed the situation on the ground.

“I have said it’s in Israel’s interest to avoid civilian casualties and Palestinian casualties because Hamas clearly wants to turn this into a wider Arab-Israeli war or indeed a war between the Muslim world and the wider world and none of us, including Israel, want that to be the case and so that’s why we do give that strong advice from a position of friendship,” Cleverly stated.

With infringements already reported in Lebanon and Syria, it is obviously a very sensitive and dangerous situation that has significant potential to escalate even further.

The carnage has already turned countless lives upside down with no imminent end to hostilities. The scale of the suffering will get worse long before things get any better, especially with the Israel ground offensive in Gaza expected within days.

Cleverly runs for cover as sirens sound in Israel

The Cabinet official was speaking from an informed position on what was happening, given that he had just returned from a visit.

He got a close-up reality of the war when sirens went off as he was in Ofakim, to warn of incoming Hamas rockets.

“I made a decision that I would go to southern Israel. I recognised that there were risks involved in that,” said Cleverly.

“Sadly, for the people living in southern Israel, moving quickly to bomb shelters in response to air threats, alerts, is a regular occurrence.”

“They were very, very used to it and therefore was it quite reassuring.”

“I wasn’t afraid because, as I say, the swiftness and professionalism of the people I was with was incredibly reassuring.”

Now in its second week, the war between Israel and Hamas will intensify. There is an apparent feeling of apprehension as to what happens next and just how far, to what extent the bloodshed and destruction will increase.

An Israeli official commented in the last few days that there is a time for war and a time for peace. The harsh reality is that we probably haven’t seen the worst phase of the conflict for a ceasefire to be any kind of possibility, any time soon.