Summary

  • "What can stop the war on the Gaza?" is the question for The Today Debate on BBC Radio 4 this evening, presented by Nick Robinson

  • Follow the debate at the top of the page by clicking watch live - there will not be regular text updates

  • On the panel are Michael Kleiner, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party in Israel, and Raja Khalidi, a Palestinian development economist

  • We'll also hear from Lord Simon McDonald, British Ambassador to Israel from 2003 to 2006, and Yuli Tamir, a former member of the Knesset for the Israeli Labour Party

  • Baroness Arminka Helic, a Conservative member of the House of Lords, is also on the programme

Live Reporting

  1. A question being asked with increasing intensity

    Nick Robinson
    Presenter, Radio 4 Today

    What can stop the war in Gaza? It's a question being asked with increasing intensity in the UK and right around the world.

    We're addressing that question in this programme, with voices in Israel and the Palestinian territories and those beyond who've got knowledge and experience of the region and international diplomacy.

    For some, the answer to our question tonight is simple - Hamas should release the hostages seized in Israel 653 days ago on 7 October 2023. The day it murdered, raped and kidnapped, attacking the very old and the very young, the sick and the healthy, peace campaigners as well as soldiers.

    Others say - no, whatever happened then it is Israel which must now stop its attacks on Gaza. Attacks that have claimed the lives of 2,118 Palestinians so far this month and more than 59,000 lives since 7 October, according to figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which like every public body in Gaza is run by Hamas.

    That has been the argument which has raged ever since that fateful day.

    But what changed this week is that the government in the UK and the governments of 27 other countries agreed a statement declaring that the war in Gaza must end now.

    Because, they wrote, the “suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths”.

  2. Watch the Today Debate on Gaza live

    The UK and 27 other countries called on Monday for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, where they say the suffering of civilians has "reached new depths".

    Today, a spokesperson for the UN chief António Guterres said he was "appalled" by the increasingly dire conditions in Gaza, and added that the "last lifelines to keep people alive are collapsing".

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that he wants a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas - "but not at any price".

    BBC Radio 4's Today programme presenter Nick Robinson is discussing what can be done to stop the war, with a panel of experts and politicians.

    We won't be providing regular text updates on this page, but you can follow the debate by tapping the Watch Live button from 20:00 BST above.