Steve Coogan has condemned Hamas’s “terrorist attacks on Israel” – after signing an open letter that made no direct mention of the group’s brutal incursion into Israel earlier this month.
Coogan said it “goes without saying that what Hamas did is evil beyond imagination – it was horrific and brutal”.
However, he said it was “no way inconsistent” to “express grave concern for the lives and welfare of innocent Palestinian civilians” at the same time.
The letter, issued by Artists for Palestine UK, and also signed by Tilda Swinton, Charles Dance, Miriam Margolyes and Maxine Peak, among more than 2,000 others, demanded that governments “end their military and political support for Israel’s actions”.
Hamas claims it forced Israeli infiltrating group to withdraw
Hamas claims some of its fighters have engaged with an Israeli force that infiltrated Gaza and destroyed some of their equipment.
The militant group’s armed wing said the infiltration took place east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Israel earlier confirmed it had been carrying out “limited” ground raids in the region.
“Fighters engaged with the infiltrating force, destroying two bulldozers and a tank and forced the force to withdraw, before they returned safely to base,” the Hamas wing said in a statement.
Israel did not immediately respond to the claim, which MEZIESBLOG was unable to independently verify.