https://www.theguardian.com/politics...vious-demurral

Jeremy Corbyn has described Hamas as a “terrorist group” in a magazine article after repeatedly refusing to use the term in a television interview earlier this week.

The former Labour leader has written an article accusing the Israeli army of being guilty of “acts of terror too”, arguing that the comparison was necessary because Israel had killed thousands of children in strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’s attacks.

His opinion piece in the leftwing Tribune magazine comes a day after the leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, said Corbyn’s “days as a Labour MP” were over after the MP had repeatedly declined to call Hamas a terrorist organisation in an interview with Piers Morgan.

Corbyn wrote that he “deplore[d] the targeting of all civilians”, including Hamas’s killing of about 1,200 people in Israel on 7 October.

The MP for Islington North added: “If we understand terrorism to describe the indiscriminate killing of civilians, in breach of international law, then of course Hamas is a terrorist group.

“The targeting of hospitals, refugee camps and so-called safe zones by the Israeli army are acts of terror too; and the killing of more than 11,000 people, half of whom are children, cannot possibly be understood as acts of self-defence.

“We should not entertain questions from those who have no interest in applying this basic consistency.”