This must include decisive leadership by the UK working with the US and I ask you to take action before it is too late.

We all have condemned the terrorist attack on October 7th but this can in no way justify the sustained bombing of civilians and life-preserving infrastructure which alongside the siege is inevitably inflicting a massive and escalating death toll on innocents.

Apart from those killed by bombs and rubble, the targeted bombing of bakeries, of hospitals, water supplies and sewage treatment will cause death through disease, the removal of life-saving medical facilities and mass starvation. It was never a tenable strategy to bomb civilians above the ground whilst Hamas and its hostages are safe beneath it. This collective civilian punishment also includes driving millions of people into a smaller space without shelter, food water and medication to face death on a mass scale.

These crimes against humanity are not done in the interests of, or with the consent of, the Israeli people or of Jewish communities more widely. They are done at the behest of an extremist government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

80 per cent of Israelis blamed Netanyahu for the initial terrorist attack https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-80-of-israelis…/people in particular given the high level of security and surveillance of Gaza and that the Israeli forces didn’t arrive to limit the death toll for many hours even though Israel knew the Hamas Oct 7 attack plan a year in advance

https://www.nytimes.com/…/israel-hamas-attack….

After the attack 70% more Israelis said it would be better to wait than to immediately escalate to a large-scale ground offensive,

https://www.theguardian.com/…/israelis-hesitant-over….

Instead, Netanyahu immediately declared ‘war’ and set out the plan for a prolonged siege, massive air bombardment, and the forced removal of Palestinians from Northern Gaza into Southern Gaza before a ground invasion to be followed by the compression of the whole population into the tiny space Al Mawasi.

Gaza is already densely populated with a 2.2 million population crammed onto the Strip making 6027 people per square kilometre in Gaza vs 423/sqkm in Israel.

Al Mawasi is a tiny area, of 0.5×5 miles or 2 per cent of the 25× 5 miles Gaza Strip. Therefore, the plan to squeeze the 2.2 million population into 2 per cent of the Gaza land space with no aid in terms of food, water, shelter or medicines is a blue-print for genocide.

There is no plan for a political solution.

The stated aim is to weaken Hamas to such an extent that the group can never repeat the attack that it unleashed on Israel on October 7. Hamas is an extreme terrorist group that has mutated out of a political/administrative group fuelled by hatred.

Therefore, the stated aim can be achieved by two different strategies. Firstly, a total ceasefire on all sides, immediate aid at scale, an international peace-keeping force and the rebuilding of Gaza to nurture a two-state solution built on mutual respect, understanding and security. Alternatively, the stated aim can be used to support a strategy to annihilate Palestinian people.

The current Israeli Government rejects the two-state solution in word and action.

So far 40,000 tonnes of explosives have been dropped upon Gaza which is 20kg of explosives per person, equivalent to three atom bombs. The Israeli Cabinet Minister (Amichai Eliyahu) who said dropping an atom bomb on Gaza was an “option” remains a voting member of the Cabinet.

The number of civilians killed is estimated at 18,000 at the moment. However, people denied of shelter as well as food, water and medical supplies can be expected to die at an accelerating rate.

90% of the buildings in Northern Gaza have been demolished by bombs and 60% of Gaza buildings overall. 43% of the explosives have been dropped on Southern Gaza so at first people stayed in North Gaza preferring to die in their own homes. However, migration to the south has been inspired by starvation as aid is not permitted and fresh water is denied in the north.

It is clear that this is not a war in any real military sense but instead is the mass killing of civilians by bombs, siege and shootings. War crimes including the killing of adults and children at point blank range have been shared online but there is virtually no reports of Israeli soldiers killed or sign of Hamas fighters even though half of Gaza has been cleared. Instead, twice as many civilians have been killed in 8 weeks as in 19 months of real war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, hostages released by Hamas have testified of good treatment and empathy whilst Palestinian children held without charge in Israel have suffered abuse.

A sustainable political solution would be possible in particular without the extremists on either side.

An international consensus is emerging that an escalating catalogue of war crimes is being committed that constitutes an unfolding genocide at the behest of the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government. This is not in the interests of Israel, the Israeli people or of Jewish communities internationally as it is driving up antisemitism.

This is not a case of indiscriminate bombing during a war. It is a case of discriminate bombing, starvation, disease, and denial of shelter of civilians then herding them into a space to die.

By continuing to support the unjustifiable and unrepentant behaviour of the Netanyahu government the UK is complicit in undermining the fundamental principles and values of all our democracies by discarding human rights and the imperatives of international law.

The UK in not voting for a ceasefire at the UN, whilst the US votes against one, is isolating our country as a state that is willing to tolerate crimes against humanity under your premiership. The UK now has an urgent duty to speak, vote and act to prevent a catastrophic death toll in great excess of that already inflicted.

If UK does not act, we are actively supporting countries like Russia and China who abuse human rights as we will be treating them as an optional extra for those peoples we favour for political convenience. They are instead, as Winston Churchill realised so clearly after the war, a fundamental and universal imperative for moral guidance in a global community.

The global tensions between our democracies and autocracies are at a tipping point. Alongside the economic, environmental and security issues at play are fundamental issues concerning personal freedom, the rule of law and human rights.

If UK is anything in the world, we should be a standard bearer for peace, freedom and justice. This is now most urgent in Gaza where we need immediate peace to navigate a pathway towards mutual respect and freedom and to deliver justice in accordance with international law.

I appreciate that David Cameron has signalled the need to change but we now need to take all necessary interventionary action in concert with the US and our European partners and Arab states quickly and decisively to avert an escalating death tole over a Christmas that shames the world.

The case for a lasting ceasefire – to save lives from bombs, allow aid at scale to relieve starvation, avert mass death through infection, enable hostages release to be negotiated, avoid regional escalation and allow conditions for the international community to help broker a two-state solution in peace – is compelling and urgent.

In any case, we should immediately evacuate the relatives of UK nationals in Gaza to at least save their lives as we did in Ukraine.

I look forward to hearing from you

Geraint Davies MP

Swansea West