Father of volunteer killed by IDF forces in 2003 warns Israel that unless it recognises it’s ‘fundamentally unethical and inhuman attitudes’ towards Gaza bombardment it will lose Western support and strengthen Hamas

The father of a British man killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) while helping a Palestinian child has urged the country to change its approach to Gaza and the West Bank.

Anthony Hurndall said Israel will lose support in Britain and other Western countries if it continues to harbor a “fundamentally unethical and inhumane attitude” towards people living on Palestinian territory.

The lawyer said the shooting of his son, Tom Hurndall, was an example of how the Jewish state’s military can sometimes target the wrong people and fabricate evidence to justify its actions.

Tom died in January 2004 after being in a coma for nine months following the shooting in the Gaza Strip. In the aftermath, the IDF made a number of false claims about him and his actions, which were later debunked.

Mr Hurndall wrote in the Times today that he saw parallels between the untruths told about his son and the information given to the press by the Israeli army during its ongoing operation in Gaza.

The director of the Center for Justice, who describes himself as a supporter of Israel despite the death of his son, wrote that he was “increasingly shocked by the stories about the treatment of Palestinians and the actions of the IDF and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza’.

“My concern is that if Israel does not change its fundamentally unethical and inhumane attitudes and policies and stop committing war crimes, it will build even more resistance from the Palestinian people and lose the sympathy and support of the West,” he wrote .

There have been waves of pro-Palestinian protests in countries around the world since the IDF began its response to the Hamas terror attacks that killed more than 1,200 civilians in southern Israel on October 7.

Palestinian health officials say more than 15,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed since weeks of Israeli airstrikes and the ground invasion of the territory.

Writing in the Times, Mr Hurndall expressed skepticism about the “claims the IDF is currently making to justify their bombings, rockets and other attacks on civilian targets and hospitals in Gaza.”

He said the claims echoed those made when his 22-year-old son was fatally shot by an IDF sniper in April 2003 while helping a Palestinian child caught in gunfire in Gaza.

He wrote that an investigation at the time of his son’s killing found that the IDF “misrepresented civilians and children as militants, or as armed, and fabricated accounts of events as a pretext for their killing.”

In the aftermath of Tom’s shooting, the Israeli military suggested that the student, who had been volunteering in Gaza with the International Solidarity Movement, had been beaten with a baseball bat.

However, this was discredited when Israeli medics found bullet fragments in his brain.

The IDF subsequently suggested that Mr Hurndall may have been carrying a weapon or standing next to someone who was, but this too was discredited.

An inquest in Britain later concluded that Tom had been ‘unlawfully killed’.

The man who shot him, Taysir Hayb, was later jailed for eight years for manslaughter after claiming he believed he had followed standard procedure. He was released after six and a half years in prison.

Mr Hurndall said that at the time of his son’s shooting there was a perception that “the IDF seemed to consider itself immune from liability and was free to misrepresent innocent civilians as legitimate military targets and attack them, as a form of intimidation or collective punishment.’

He added that although the claims surrounding his son were debunked thanks to pressure from politicians and the press, “Palestinian citizens do not have the resources or support to protect themselves in this way.”

In the article, he also criticized Western governments for appearing “too willing to accept and repeat Israeli accounts and narratives,” something he said makes them “complicit” in the deaths of women and children.

It comes as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas enters its final day, with a fifth group of hostages taken by the terror group during the October 7 attacks returned to safety on Israeli soil.

Photos show the prisoners being escorted by balaclava-clad Hamas terrorists in Gaza as they prepare to hand them over to the Red Cross and Israel, as a crowd gathered to film and cheer.

Qatar confirmed this evening that 30 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, including 15 women and 15 minors, have been released by Israel as part of an exchange deal central to the ceasefire.

It comes after a tentative pause in fighting earlier appeared to be at stake, when Israel and Hamas leveled accusations that the other side had violated the agreement for the first time since it came into effect.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that three explosive devices were detonated near its forces at two locations in northern Gaza, with terrorists allegedly opening fire on them at one location and returning gunfire.

Hamas also accused Israel of committing a “flagrant ceasefire violation,” to which the fighters responded, without providing details. Both sides have claimed they are committed to the continued ceasefire.

The already extended ceasefire deal is expected to end tomorrow, with the last group expected to be released before fighting resumes.

Negotiators are desperately calling on both sides to further extend the pause, Egypt and Qatar say, as international calls for a long-term ceasefire mount.

A senior diplomatic source in the Knesset told The Times of Israel about the negotiations to extend the ceasefire: “If there is a concrete proposal, the cabinet will consider it, but there has been nothing like that yet.

“If we see that it is a serious proposal, we will investigate it.”

But Israel says it remains committed to destroying Hamas’ military capabilities and ending its 16-year rule over Gaza.

That would likely mean expanding a ground offensive from Gaza’s devastated north to the south.

About 1,200 people were killed in Israel during Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 invasion that ignited the war.

More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.

About 240 hostages were captured by Hamas, with just over 160 believed to still be in captivity after a series of exchanges with Palestinian prisoners.