Israel-Gaza: Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis speaks of hopes for peace

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis says he hopes Israel is able to "guarantee peace, not just now but into the future".

Speaking at an event about hostages in Gaza, he told BBC London that militant organisation Hamas "cannot be allowed to continue to exist".

It comes as several other Israel-Gaza events took place across the capital, including an interfaith tree planting.

Toys were also laid out for Palestinian children killed in the war.

Rabbi Ephraim made his comments at the launch event for an installation in Hampstead called The Empty Shabbat Table to raise awareness about hostages in Gaza.

Organised by the JW3 Jewish Community Centre London, the installation features a Shabbat table with posters of missing people on chairs at dozens of empty place settings.

At the event, Rabbi Ephraim was asked about Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's call for a ceasefire.

Mr Khan said in a statement that a ceasefire would "allow the international community more time to prevent a protracted conflict in the region and further devastating loss of life".

The rabbi did not say whether he agreed with the call, but responded: "What is so hugely important is that people appreciate the scale of the crime, the enormity of the barbaric attacks against innocent Israelis.

"It is so important that Israel should succeed in her efforts to guarantee peace, not just now but into the future.

"The suffering of every single innocent person is heart-breaking, the death of any innocent person is a tragedy, and I would urge Israel to do whatever it can to guarantee the survival of the state of Israel and the Jewish people."

Rabbi Ephraim added that Hamas "cannot be allowed to continue to exist, because as long as it is there it poses an existential threat to the state of Israel and a threat to Jews worldwide".

Charlie Balcombe, co-organiser of the installation, said she hoped it would humanise and visualise the people being held hostage.

"You can't help but be moved and upset and broken-hearted when you see these faces of these people, and they're all smiling and they're with their families."

She added: "This isn't army to army, this is army against civilians, and that's the hard thing to handle."

Outside the Foreign Office in central London, hundreds of people gathered for a Parents for Palestine protest where stuffed toys representing Palestinian children killed during the conflict were laid out on the ground and attached to gates.

Protesters chanted "let Gaza live" and "stop arming Israel" while placards carried messages written by children.

One woman who attended said: "Watching the news over the last two weeks has been deeply distressing. I can't watch another family hold their three-year-old or four-year-old in a white body bag.

"We have to keep fighting, we have to keep telling them that we need a ceasefire, we need humanitarian aid, and we need to stop arming Israel."

Faika, from Chigwell in Essex, said: "I couldn't imagine, as a mother myself, hearing bombs go off all the time. I've got a seven-month-old baby.

"I wanted to do something peaceful and come out and show some solidarity."

In Dulwich, south-east London, a group of Muslims and Jews joined together with people of all faiths to plant 15 trees

The Strengthening Faith Institutions charity consortium, which organised the planting, said members of the project received personal threats that they should stop working together.

The consortium said the act of planting the trees "creates a common purpose and a shared and growing asset".

Rabbi Natan Levy attended the event alongside Mustafa Field, director of Faiths Forum for London.

Mr Field said: "Especially at this time, we are experiencing a lot of tension and we are seeing on fringes of communities an element of hatred spiking, so we need to find ways of bringing people back together."

Rabbi Levy added: "People have come out from all over London just to do the right thing as people of faith working together.

"We don't want the hate to win."

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