That the Parliament recognises that 7 October 2024 marks the one-year anniversary of the group Hamas, which is officially designated as a terrorist organisation by the UK, USA and the EU, launching a brutal attack against Israel by land, air and sea; understands that what it considers as the 7 October pogrom caused the deaths of approximately 1,200 civilians in Israel and that the attack by Hamas resulted in the murder of more Jewish people than on any other single day since the horrors of the Holocaust; believes that, in the same manner as every other nation-state, Israel has a right to self-defence and to protect its people from acts of aggression, but acknowledges that innocent people who live in Gaza have endured a period of incredible challenge and immense suffering in the past year; considers that the passing of every civilian who died on 7 October, or over the course of the previous 12 months, and irrespective of whether the individual was Israeli or Palestinian, is a tragedy, and that all innocent people whose lives have been lost in the conflict should be mourned; understands that, on 7 October 2023, the proscribed terrorist group Hamas also brutally took over 200 civilians in Israel to Gaza as hostages; notes that 117 people who were forcibly removed from Israel are no longer in captivity, but understands that a total of 97 hostages, with a third sadly believed to have died, are still in Gaza; calls for the release of all hostages who are still in Gaza and for the remains of those who have died to be returned home, and further calls for an immediate, full and complete ceasefire to hostilities in Gaza and for a UN peace plan, as agreed by the Security Council in June 2024, to be enacted.
Supported by:
Jeremy Balfour, Miles Briggs, Alexander Burnett, Sharon Dowey, Tim Eagle, Annabelle Ewing, Russell Findlay, Murdo Fraser, Kenneth Gibson, Pam Gosal, Jamie Greene, Dr. Sandesh Gulhane, Craig Hoy, Stephen Kerr, Douglas Lumsden, Fulton MacGregor, Ben Macpherson, Ruth Maguire, John Mason, Paul O'Kane, Ash Regan, Douglas Ross, Alexander Stewart, Paul Sweeney, Sue Webber, Annie Wells, Tess White, Brian Whittle