Israel-Gaza attacks: Hove candlelit vigil as Jewish community grieves

The vigil was for the community to come together and mourn

A vigil has taken place in Hove in memory of the 900 Israelis killed by Palestinian militants over the weekend.

The candlelit vigil was organised by the Sussex Jewish Representative Council as a time to "come together and remember and to mourn loved ones".

Fiona Sharp, community liaison officer, said members of the community had lost relatives and friends in the attacks.

She said she hoped the people of Brighton and Hove would join them and "show solidarity".

Ms Sharp said: "The Jewish community is a very small one and we are a very small, tight-knit people and when we look and see the horror that went on in Israel, that's our extended family."

Fiona Sharp said she hoped people would show "solidarity"

'Utter disbelief'

Ms Sharp said she had reacted with "complete and utter disbelief" over the attacks, adding: "This was just not something that anyone had anticipated and the ferocity of the attacks seemed to be something that we had never ever seen before."

She said she had close family and friends in Israel and one of her cousins had ended up barricaded in a house in Ofakim, in Israel's south, not far from Gaza.

She said her relatives managed to get out safely, but other people were killed.

"Let's not forget it's not over," she said. "This is still ongoing, people are still dying, they are still finding more bodies."

Beryl Sharpe, who also attended the vigil, said: "Everybody here has someone - a friend, a family member, a loved one, who it's affecting. There's a lady over there and her two grandsons have just been called up."

She said she was there "not just for me, for everybody, for Jews all over the world".

Beryl Sharpe said everyone at the vigil had someone who had been affected