An interfaith prayer for peace in the Middle East was held at Britain’s biggest mosque. Religious leaders, local politicians and members of the community attended the evening’s ceremony organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at their Baitul Futuh Mosque in South London. The ceremony comes as Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip intensify, killing 200 people on the night of 5 November. Israel launched an offensive on the besieged strip in response to Hamas’s 7 October attacks which Israeli officials say killed more than 1,400 people. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says Israeli strikes have killed at least 10,000 people, mostly women and children.
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00:00 [ Background noise ]
00:21 >> Yes, due to the conflict that's taking place
00:24 in the Middle East, particularly in Israel and Gaza,
00:29 we felt that there was a dire need
00:32 for bringing all the people together of different faiths,
00:35 Jewish, Muslim, Christians, and try
00:38 and pray for peace in the region.
00:41 All faiths teach how we can have peaceful coexistence
00:46 with each other.
00:46 None of the faiths teaches that we should have the type
00:51 of war that's taking place at this moment where women,
00:54 children, and elderly are being slaughtered, massacred.
00:59 And I'm sure that our Jewish brothers, our Christian brothers,
01:03 and our Muslim brothers, all of them will speak with one voice
01:07 that what is happening is not acceptable
01:09 and that we must bring this to an end as soon,
01:12 as quickly as possible.
01:14 [ Background noise ]
01:22 >> Marching forward.
01:27 I pray for peace for all children and people.
01:30 >> We're living in extremely challenging times,
01:32 very difficult, heartbreaking times.
01:36 And it's so vital that we find the common ground amongst people
01:41 and I believe that there is common ground between us.
01:44 There's no reason that the Jewish people in Israel
01:50 and the Muslim community
01:52 of the Arab population can't live together.
01:56 They have lived together.
01:57 There's been a tradition of Muslim and Jews living together
02:00 in civilization for a thousand years.
02:03 And there's no reason why with goodwill, good leaders,
02:07 compromise, we can't live together in Israel-Palestine.
02:12 [ Background noise ]