Like all of us, I have been shocked and appalled by the recent terrorist attacks in Israel against innocent civilians.

There can be no justification for the atrocities perpetrated without warning against ordinary people going about their daily lives, many of whom were children. Over 1,400 people were murdered by Hamas, and 3,500 wounded. Almost 200 have been taken hostage into Gaza. At least 6 British citizens have been killed, and a further 10 are missing. This was a pogrom against Jewish people – a word we had hoped had been consigned to history.

Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK with good reason. It’s founding charter called for the obliteration of Israel through Islamic Jihad. Many innocent Palestinians are victims of Hamas too, ruled by fear and religious extremism. It does not represent the Palestinian people nor the future they want.

I write early in the week, as Israeli forces have undertaken air raids for several days and now mass on the border of Gaza for an expected ground invasion. I attended a briefing for MPs by the Foreign Secretary on Tuesday, in which he made clear the UK at each opportunity is stressing to Israel that every precaution must be taken to protect innocent civilians from harm, and that international law must be respected. There are conflicting accounts, as I write, about responsibility for a terrible strike on a hospital in Gaza reportedly killing hundreds.

In addition to our focus on evacuating British citizens from the area, the UK remains committed to humanitarian efforts to help the Palestinian people. The Prime Minister spoke with the President of the Palestinian Authority on Monday as the UK announced £10 million in humanitarian aid, calling on Israel and Egypt to open up the Rafah border crossing, allowing urgently needed humanitarian supplies to reach Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

It is welcome President Biden is visiting Israel, to call for restraint and swift resolution of the crisis so that the conflict does not spill into the wider Middle East. Iran, which has backed its proxies in Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, has a shared desire to see the state of Israel cease to exist. But conflict between Western powers and Iran would further destabilise the region and reverberate around the world, disrupting international relations for decades to come.

The United States has deployed two aircraft carrier groups to the area, to deter further actors from getting involved in the conflict. A Royal Navy task group has also deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean, to interdict arms and support the humanitarian response.

I have visited Gaza, albeit over a decade ago, as well as the West Bank, Israel and every neighbouring country. So I have considerable sympathy for the innocent civilians there, whose lives are once again at risk.

The UK is increasing our diplomatic engagement in the region, to seek peace and normalisation of relations and regional stability, in the hope of reviving long term prospects for a two-state solution. It is vital for world peace that the conflict does not spill over into the wider region.