IN RESPONSE to Mrs Summerfield’s letter of August 28, Gaza’s Hamas is a political party and social welfare organisation. It was democratically elected as the government of Palestine, and apart from running the government, it also runs schools, hospitals, etc.

Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, although its military wing, the Al-Qassam brigade is often called terrorist. They are in fact the only defence which Gaza has. It is they who killed the invading Israeli soldiers (and, yes, they have killed under 10 civilians, as against over 1,000 killed by Israel).

Hamas do not operate in the West Bank, where Israel has also been killing people on a regular basis since 1947.

To suggest that Gaza’s frontiers are ‘open’ is a fabrication. Since 2007, no World Food Programme lorries have been allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt until this week. Although this border is in Egypt, it is controlled by Israel, as are all of Gaza’s land and sea borders and air-space.

If Israel has now agreed to lift the blockade, then that is good news. However, they agreed to do this before and are not to be trusted.

I disagree with a lot that Hamas does. But it is important to put the facts straight.

John Bibby, Straylands Grove, Heworth, York.