Israel’s offensive in Gaza will be ‘horrific’, UK minister warns

James Heappey says Hamas’ use of ‘human shields’ would make preventing civilian deaths ‘incredibly difficult’

Britain’s armed forces minister has said nobody should pretend Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza is going to be “anything other than horrific”, warning that “we are going to see some awful things”.

James Heappey said Israel’s armed forces were “doing everything they can” to avoid civilian casualties, but terror group Hamas’s use of “human shields” would make the task “incredibly difficult”.

Speaking to Sky News as Israel prepares an air, ground and naval offensive in Gaza, Mr Heappey said: “Israel is doing everything that it reasonably can to tell the civilian population to move.

“I have every confident that Israel will be precise in its targeting and they’ll have good intelligence about where it needs to target.”

“But nobody should pretend that this is going to be anything other than horrific,” the minister added, who said it would be “extraordinarily difficult” to protect civilians in the offensive. “I’m afraid we’re going to see some awful things over the next few days.”

The Israeli military has announced it is preparing for a coordinated offensive in Gaza and has ordered citizens to move south, accusing Hamas of trying to use them as human shields.

Israel has called up some 360,000 military reserves ahead of the anticipated offensive, while tanks and heavy weaponry have also been brought to the border as airstrikes continue to pound the besieged enclave. It comes a week after a horrific attack in Israel by Hamas militants that has killed over 1,000 people.

It comes as Rishi Sunak’s ministers push to get the Rafah crossing open between Gaza and Egypt to allow Britons to flee Gaza and aid to get in to reduce the “almost inevitable” impact on civilians of the conflict with Israel.

However, expectations in government for opening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt were understood to be very low on Monday. Mr Heappey warned it is important to “sound a note of caution that the reports might be more optimistic than reality”.

Rishi Sunak addressed Jewish school students during an assembly on Monday (Jonathan Buckmaster/Getty Images)

Mr Sunak raised the border crossing in a call with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi last week, and it is understood that opening the border for foreign nationals and for Palestinian refugees could be treated separately.

The PM will this afternoon address MPs about the escalating crisis as parliament returns. The PM will set out how the UK is supporting Israel and aiding British nationals caught in the fighting, while also detailing ministers’ response to the humanitarian situation.

The Tory leader told broadcasters that he has raised the need to minimise the impact on civilians in Gaza with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. But the PM said Hamas was now “telling people to stay behind” in the north of Gaza.

“I’ve raised with the Israeli prime minister the need to minimise the impact on civilians as best we can. I’ve raised the humanitarian situation. We will continue to do that with other allies around the region as well,” said Mr Sunak.

He added: “Israel has given people advance notice of what’s happening … and it’s Hamas who is now telling people to stay behind. It’s Hamas that is embedding itself inside civilian populations and that is just example of the barbarity with which they operate.”

Jeremy Corbyn addresses pro-Palestine rally (Getty Images)

No 10 dismissed a warning by Conservative MP Crispin Blunt that the UK could be complicit in war crimes in Gaza it doesn’t try to “restrain” Israel.

Asked about the backbencher’s comments, Mr Sunak’s spokesman said: “We disagree with that. You’ve heard from the prime minister and foreign secretary about the importance of protecting civilians ... It’s vitally important we do not lose sight of the fact it is Hamas’ actions which are endangering Palestinians.”

King Abdullah II of Jordan was welcomed to No 10 on Sunday evening. Mr Sunak will hold today talks with Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Palestinian National Authority, as well as other other leaders in the region in the coming days amid fears the war between Hamas and Israel could spark a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Mr Sunak’s official spokesman said it was “abhorrent” that pro-Palestinian protesters reportedly displayed images of Hamas attackers during demonstrations. It comes after the Metropolitan Police appealed for information about two women who had pictures of paragliders on their jackets at protests in London at the weekend.

The Sunak spokesman said: “It is hard to conceive of a situation where people would want to show support for individuals that committed a terrorist attack which saw children, babies slaughtered. It is hard to put into words.”

Mr Sunak also warned that glorifying Hamas in the UK can result in long jail sentences of up to 14 years. “Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation, it’s very clear under the law, the support and glorification of Hamas is illegal, and those offences are punishable with up to almost 14 years in jail,” the PM said.

No 10 also appeared to suggest there was “much more” the FA to show support for Israel and deciding not to light up the arch over Wembley Stadium in the country’s colours.

There is “no restriction” on the BBC calling Hamas fighters terrorists, Downing Street also said. “The legal position is that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist group – the term terrorist is an accurate legal description,” Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said.

Meanwhile, foreign secretary James Cleverly on Sunday indicated that about 10 British people are currently being held hostage by Hamas, telling Sky News that such a figure was “not an unreasonable estimate”.