Israel-Hamas ceasefire is ‘untenable’, says Defence Secretary Grant Shapps

Published

1 year ago

October 25, 2023

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Asking Israel to reach a ceasefire with Hamas is “untenable”, the UK’s defence secretary has said, as the number of MPs calling for a cessation of hostilities grows.

Grant Shapps said Israel has “a right” to “go after” Hamas after its gunmen killed more than 1,400 Israelis on 7 October and abducted over 220 other people who are now being held hostage in Gaza.

Mr Shapps, who recently replaced Ben Wallace as defence secretary, took the same position as Rishi Sunak who said during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday that the “first and most important principle is that Israel has the right to defend itself under law”.

However, Mr Sunak agreed that humanitarian aid had to get to civilians in Gaza and confirmed an RAF plane was on its way to the region with 21 tonnes of supplies, including medical equipment and water filters.

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The Hamas-run health ministry has said at least 6,546 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli retaliatory strikes on Gaza.

Mr Shapps told the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that he agreed it was “very important that we can deliver that aid”.

“The difference is we understand that Israel was attacked in a very brutal way by Hamas terrorists, butchering men, women and children ISIS-style,” he said.

“I think to then ask Israel not to respond – or what you would describe as a ceasefire – I think is untenable.

“They have a right to go after those terrorists but it is the international humanitarian situation that a pause could assist with.”

Mr Shapps went on to argue that if there had been a terrorist attack in the UK on the same scale that Israel had endured, “no one would expect us not to go after the perpetrators”.

“To call for a ceasefire is to essentially say to Israel, having gone through that absolutely horrific terrorist attack just over two weeks ago, don’t go after Hamas – and I don’t think anyone thinks that would be right,” he said.

“And so we can understand and appreciate under international law that Israel has the absolute right to do that.

“We also believe that it needs to be done in a proportionate way with international human rights law in place and that is very clear.”

In the past few days, a number of MPs from across the political divide have called for a ceasefire, arguing that there was a “human responsibility” to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip who have had their water and power limited by Israel following the 7 October attack.

Speaking at this week’s PMQs, the deputy leader of the SNP, Mhairi Black, pointed to warnings from the United Nations that some hospitals in Gaza City had less than 20 hours of fuel left and their electricity “runs out tonight”.

She was joined by the leader of Northern Ireland’s Social Democratic and Labour Party, Colum Eastwood, who asked: “As 1,400 Israelis and almost 6,000 Palestinians lay dying and dead, when will the prime minister say enough is enough? When will he call for a ceasefire?”

Labour shadow minister for equalities Yasmin Qureshi also echoed the calls for a truce and read out an email from one of her constituents with relatives in Gaza, which read: “My heart can’t handle this. We are being massacred, relentlessly bombed, homes are being destroyed [and there is] no water, no food, no electricity.”

In response to the calls from MPs, Mr Sunak urged people to remember that Israel had suffered “a shockingly brutal terrorist attack”.

“Hamas is responsible for this conflict and Israel has the right to protect itself in line with international law as the UN charter makes clear.”

The Labour Party has also resisted calls for a ceasefire but has signalled its support for a humanitarian pause in order to protect civilians.

The stance is the same as that adopted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that a humanitarian pause meant Israel “must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians.

“It means food, water, medicine, and other essential humanitarian assistance must be able to flow into Gaza and to the people who need them.”

In a live televised address on Wednesday evening, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was “getting prepared” for a ground invasion, and troops have already “eliminated thousands of terrorists”.

Asked whether he believed a ground invasion would fall under Israel’s right to defend itself, Mr Shapps told Ridge: “As long as the people that they are going after are the Hamas terrorists, yes.

“The problem we have with Hamas is not just that they butchered and killed and raped those Israelis. It’s that they also use their own Palestinian population – who are no friends of Hamas – as human shields, and they hide themselves amongst them.

“And so we understand and appreciate that it’s a very difficult position for Israel to be in.”

World

Starmer was a charmer – but Zelenskyy meeting is the moment of truth

Published

7 hours ago

February 28, 2025

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Starmer was a charmer - but Zelenskyy meeting is the moment of truth

It feels like “the draft” has come six weeks early – the annual selection meeting in American football.

For three or four days, teams in the NFL attempt to woo players with the most lucrative contracts.

In a classic Emmanuel Macron manoeuvre, the French president deployed flattery in the Oval Office.

Three days later, Sir Keir Starmer the charmer upped the game, whipping out a letter from the King.

In their determination to entice the key player back onto Europe’s side, their tactical game was top-notch.

But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s arrival at the White House is the moment of truth for their charm offensive.

The Ukrainian leader has stressed the need for security guarantees before signing any agreement.

President Donald Trump seems to be suggesting that a deal on rare earth minerals provides such security.

“Digging our hearts out,” as he put it, in an economic partnership, would certainly be ground-breaking diplomacy.

This week’s flurry in Washington reflects Europe’s concern about Trump’s push to end the war.

Ten days ago, his apparent concessions to Russia sounded alarm bells across the Atlantic.

But his meetings with Macron and Starmer were more amicable than France and the UK dared hope.

Both fact-checked him in real time when he claimed European aid for Ukraine had been given as a loan.

But rather than retaliate, he appeared to have heard their concerns about his U-turn towards Moscow.

Asked by one journalist if he still thought Zelenskyy was a “dictator”, he replied: “Did I really say that?”

Don’t underestimate that joke.

It is the closest Donald J Trump would ever come to a climb-down.

The publication of the detail is a pivotal moment in assessing which team he has opted to play for.

World

FBI most wanted drug lord among 29 cartel figures sent from Mexico to US as Trump turns up pressure on organisations

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7 hours ago

February 28, 2025

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FBI most wanted drug lord among 29 cartel figures sent from Mexico to US as Trump turns up pressure on organisations

Mexico has sent 29 drug cartel figures, including a most wanted drug lord, to the US as the Trump administration cranks up the pressure on the crime groups.

The early days of the new US president’s second term were marked by him triggering trade wars with his nearest allies, where he threatened to hike tariffs with Mexico, and Canada, insisting the country crack down on drug cartels, immigration and the production of fentanyl.

With the imposition of the 25% tariffs just days away, drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the FBI’s “10 most wanted fugitives”, was one of the individuals handed over in the unprecedented show of cooperation.

It comes as top Mexican officials are in Washington ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.

Those sent to the US on Thursday were rounded up from prisons across Mexico and flown to eight US cities, according to the Mexican government.

Prosecutors from both countries said the prisoners sent to the US faced charges including drug trafficking and homicide.

“We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honour of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers – and in some cases, given their lives – to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels,” US attorney general Pamela Bondi said in a statement.

‘Cartel kingpin’

Quintero was convicted of the torture and murder of US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena in 1985.

The murder marked a low point in US-Mexico relations.

Quintero was described by the US attorney general as “a cartel kingpin who unleashed violence, destruction, and death across the United States and Mexico”.

After decades in jail, and atop the FBI’s most wanted list, he walked free in 2013 when a court overturned his 40-year sentence for killing Mr Camarena.

Quintero, the former leader of the Guadalajara cartel, returned to drug trafficking and triggered bloody turf battles in the northern Mexico state of Sonora until he was arrested a second time in 2022.

The US sought his extradition shortly after, but the request remained stuck at Mexico’s foreign ministry for reasons unknown.

President Claudia Sheinbaum’s predecessor and political mentor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador severely curtailed Mexican cooperation with the DEA to protest undercover US operations in Mexico targeting senior political and military officials.

‘The Lord of The Skies’

Also sent to the US were cartel leaders, security chiefs from both factions of the Sinaloa cartel, cartel finance operatives and a man wanted in connection with the killing of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy in 2022.

Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, a once leader of the Juarez drug cartel, based in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, and brother of drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as “The Lord of The Skies”, who died in a botched plastic surgery in 1997, was among those turned over to the US.

As were two leaders of the now defunct Los Zetas cartel, brothers Miguel and Omar Trevino Morales, who were known as Z-40 and Z-42.

The brothers have been accused of running the successor Northeast Cartel from prison.

Trump-Mexico relations

The removal of the cartel figures coincided with a visit to Washington by Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary Juan Ramon de la Fuente and other top officials, who met with their US counterparts.

Mr Trump has made clear his desire to crack down on drug cartels and has pressured Mexico to work with him.

The acting head of the DEA, Derek Maltz, was said to have provided the White House with a list of nearly 30 targets in Mexico wanted in the US on criminal charges and Quintero was top of the list.

It was also said that Ms Sheinbaum’s government, in a rush to seek favour with the Trump administration, bypassed the usual formalities of the countries’ shared extradition treaty in this incident.

This means it could potentially allow US prosecutors to try Quintero for Mr Camarena’s murder – something not contemplated in the existing extradition request to face separate drug trafficking charges in a Brooklyn federal court.

World

Mount Vesuvius eruption turned part of man’s brain into glass after super-hot ash cloud

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7 hours ago

February 28, 2025

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Mount Vesuvius eruption turned part of man's brain into glass after super-hot ash cloud

A man’s brain was partly turned into glass after Mount Vesuvius erupted.

Researchers discovered dark fragments resembling obsidian in the skull of a man in the ancient settlement of Herculaneum.

Along with Pompeii, the ancient settlement was obliterated in 79AD when the volcano erupted, killing thousands and burying both under a thick layer of volcanic material and mud – preserving them in excellent condition for future archaeologists.

The man was first discovered in the 1960s inside a building called the College of the Augustales, which was dedicated to the cult of Emperor Augustus.

He is thought to have been the college’s custodian and was killed in his bed, around midnight when he was assumed to be asleep, in the first effects of the eruption as the burning hot ash cloud hit.

The city was buried in the latter stages of the geological event.

But after his remains were re-examined more recently, the glass fragments were discovered.

In a paper published on Thursday, researchers said this was the “only such occurrence” of this happening on Earth.

It was caused by a super-hot ash cloud that is thought to have suddenly descended on his city, likely instantly killing the inhabitants.

The glass was formed by vitrification, the process of transforming a substance into glass, when the brain’s organic material was exposed to the incredibly high temperatures – at least 510C (950F) – before rapidly cooling.

“The glass formed as a result of this process allowed for an integral preservation of the biological brain material and its microstructures,” said forensic anthropologist Pier Paolo Petrone of Universita di Napoli Federico II, one of the study’s lead researchers.

He added: “The only other type of organic glass we have evidence of is that produced in some rare cases of vitrification of wood, sporadic cases of which have been found at Herculaneum and Pompeii.

“However, in no other case in the world have vitrified organic human or animal remains ever been found.”

Mr Petrone continued: “I was in the room where the college’s custodian was lying in his bed to document his charred bones.

“Under the lamp, I suddenly saw small glassy remains glittering in the volcanic ash that filled the skull.

“Taking one of these fragments, it had a black appearance and shiny surfaces quite similar to obsidian, a natural glass of volcanic origin – black and shiny, whose formation is due to the very rapid cooling of the lava.

“But, unlike obsidian, the glassy remains were extremely brittle and easy to crumble.”