Israel responded harshly to Britain’s Prince William’s words about a ceasefire

In an extraordinary – and symbolically significant – statement, the heir to the throne said the “terrible human cost” of the conflict between Israel and Hamas had meant that “too many people have been killed.”

“I, like many others, want to end the fighting as soon as possible,” the 41-year-old Prince of Wales said. He also stressed the urgent need to increase humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of Gaza and, in particular, called on Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages.

As the Daily Mail notes, the prince’s carefully chosen words are the strongest yet from any senior member of the royal family in response to Israel’s devastating military actions in the Gaza Strip.

It is believed that Israeli authorities were caught off guard by the prince’s “intervention” and The Telegraph reports that they consider his public statement naive. The newspaper says they are “worried” but do not want to risk their relationship with the future king of Great Britain.

It comes ahead of a crucial vote in the House of Commons on the Scottish National Party’s second motion for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The UK government has put forward an amendment to oppose the SNP’s ceasefire proposal, in a move that could expose Labour’s split over conflict in the Middle East.

Labor sought to avoid another possible uprising over the war between Israel and Hamas by introducing its own amendment to the Scottish National Party’s proposal.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party publicly changed its position, backing a call for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, giving MPs unhappy with the leadership’s previous approach to the issue language they could support.

But the government’s decision to introduce its own counter-amendment to the motion increases the likelihood that the Speaker of the House of Commons will not choose Labour’s amendment to be debated.

This could leave Labor MPs with a choice between voting for the government’s position, which stops short of calling for an immediate ceasefire, and the SNP’s position.

The debate will continue as thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators are expected to attend a rally in Parliament Square on Wednesday.

Shadow International Development Secretary Lisa Nandy said Labour’s ceasefire proposal differed from the Scottish National Party’s because it emphasized it had to be “two-pronged”.

Prince William’s public statement also came ahead of the Prince of Wales’ visit to the British Red Cross in London to discuss the growing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and beyond.

It was also said with the knowledge of the Foreign Office and was welcomed by Downing Street, which said his “measured” call for a cessation of hostilities was consistent with the Government’s position.

Royal aides stressed that it was “the scale of human suffering that prompted the prince to make such a statement.”

However, the Daily Mail notes: the statement also puts the heir to the throne at risk of accusations of interference.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted calls to end hostilities, making clear he will not stop until Hamas is destroyed and the Gaza Strip is demilitarized.

Israeli government spokesman Eilon Levy gave a more diplomatic response to the prince’s intervention, saying: “The Israelis, of course, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible, and this will be possible once the 134 hostages are released and once Hamas is disbanded. We appreciate the Prince of Wales’ call for Hamas to release the hostages. We also gratefully recall his October 11 statement condemning the group’s terrorist attacks and affirming Israel’s right to self-defense against them.”

Sources close to the heir to the throne acknowledged that issues surrounding the crisis are highly politicized. But they stressed that, having made a well-received visit to both Israel and the West Bank in 2018, William had been keeping a close eye on developments.

They said he thought “long and hard” about whether to say anything but felt the huge humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region required him to speak out.

Royal aides insisted that William’s words should not be taken as a call for an immediate ceasefire or a comment on the “two-state” solution, but as a gut reaction to the colossal loss of life.

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis shared William’s statement online and wrote: “Since his visit to the region in 2018, the Prince of Wales has shown deep concern for the welfare of all those affected by conflict in the Middle East. His words of compassion today, which I welcome, are further evidence of this.”

But fellow Conservative Stuart Jackson called the prince’s intervention “ill-timed and ill-considered.”

Conservative MP Andrew Percy, deputy chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on antisemitism, said: “It is a fundamental principle of our constitutional monarchy that members of the royal family do not engage in the controversial political issues of the day when there are different and strongly held beliefs in this country.”