Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Elystan-Morgan (Crossbench). It was answered on Wednesday, 18 March 2009.

Gaza

Question: My Lords, what is the approximate number of missiles fired by Hamas into southern Israel since the ceasefire? Will the Minister confirm that it is not the case that Israel and Hamas stand on exactly the same ground in international law? Israel is a fully constituted democratic sovereign state, while Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation, so labelled by the United States of America, the European Union, Australia and Canada.

Answer: My Lords, of course, the noble Lord is right on the latter point. There is a difference between a sovereign state and the Hamas rule in Gaza. That means, therefore, that the expectations, obligations and any sanctions are different in the two cases. That does not alter the fact that, when conflict of this kind has occurred, it is important that as far as possible the truth of the incidence of atrocities is identified. I do not have the figures for the numbers of rockets; I imagine the noble Lord has put it forward as being a lesser force than was wielded by the Israeli armed forces in Gaza, which is certainly so.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 709 c224
Session: 2008-09
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Armed conflict International law War crimes Israel Palestine Middle East Gaza
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk