Ahead of tonight’s vote in Parliament, we report on yesterday’s debate and explain why an immediate ceasefire is the vital precondition to resolving the crisis in Gaza.

In a strong show of the growing pressure on Keir Starmer to back the call for a Ceasefire Now in Gaza, over 10,000 people – including members of over 500 Constituency Labour Parties – have signed a petition reading calling on Labour’s leadership “to join the growing international calls for an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine.”

Commenting on the strength of support for the petition, Apsana Begum MP said: “The ongoing dehumanisation and collective punishment of Palestinians will be marked in history as a crime against humanity. It is vital that the Labour Party stand up against war crimes and be counted.”

Hugh Lanning of Labour & Palestine, who initiated the petition, said: “This confirms the strength of opinion at the Party’s grassroots. Keir Starmer’s continuing refusal to make the call for a ceasefire and his threats to sack frontbench MPs who vote for one tonight is deeply shocking to members and out of step with the public, risking lasting damage to Labour support. It is time for him to listen and urgently change course.”

Welcoming the growing support for a ceasefire in the Labour Party, TSSA General Secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: “The Labour Party is supposed to stand on the side of the oppressed, and those backing the petition are doing just that. Instead, we have seen MPs being suspended or forced to resign shadow ministerial posts simply for supporting the cause of peace. It is not good enough.”

Young Labour Chair Nabeela Mowlana said: “The last few weeks have demonstrated the strength of feeling amongst the British public that we will not sit by as our political leaders allow atrocities to take place in Palestine. A ceasefire is the first step in a desperately needed peace process rooted in justice and liberation. The Labour leadership must do the right thing by supporting the vote for a ceasefire.”

And Mohammad Suhail, Young Labour International Officer, added: “The overwhelming support this petition has received from across the Party is heartening and indicates the position members want to see Keir Starmer take. Ahead of any Commons vote on a ceasefire, we call on all Labour MPs to stand on the side of peace, and vote to call for a ceasefire.”

Long-standing Palestinian solidarity campaigner and Labour NEC member Jess Barnard said: “Keir Starmer is not just out of step with Labour’s membership, he is on another planet. 76% of the general public support a ceasefire, 10,000 members have now signed the Labour & Palestine petition; hundreds of councillors, regional and national labour figures have all supported the calls for an immediate ceasefire.”

Fellow NEC member Gemma Bolton joined those welcoming the strong support for the petition, saying: “That over 10,000 Labour members have signed the petition shows that they, like the general public, overwhelmingly back a ceasefire. They rightly understand a ceasefire is the only way to stop the horrific scenes we have seen broadcast from Gaza – and commence the process of negotiating a just and lasting peace.”

The petition can be viewed here. Over 15,000 people have used a separate Labour & Palestine online lobbying tool to MPs in support of Zarah Sultana’s amendment to the King’s Speech calling for a ceasefire. Read more here.

Meanwhile another Labour Councillor has resigned from Oxford City Council. Councillor Ajaz Rehman said: “I have sadly been left to conclude that the Labour leadership does not treat all life equally.” 

Earlier today, former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP tweeted: “There are defining moments in your life as a Member of Parliament & today’s vote on a ceasefire in Gaza is one of them. I will be voting to support a ceasefire. Decisions like this live with you for the rest of your life.”   

Why will nothing less than an immediate ceasefire do?

Since the bombardment by Israeli forces began, 45% of Gaza’s housing units have been destroyed or damaged, displacing approximately 1.5 million people – two-thirds of the population. Locations where displaced Palestinians shelter have also been bombed, including hospitals, churches, mosques, schools and refugee camps. There is an imminent risk of deadly infectious disease outbreaks, including cholera.

This will impact further on Gaza’s rapidly deteriorating health care provision. Gaza has 50,000 pregnant women. There are an average of 183 deliveries a day. Many of them now homeless and energy cutoffs are fatally affecting 130 incubator-dependent premature babies.

Gaza has 1,000 kidney dialysis patients and 80% of dialysis facilities are in the area ordered to evacuate. It has 2,000 cancer patients and the only dedicated cancer hospital in Gaza is now non-operational. There are 350,000 non-communicable disease patients and many more with mental health illness, greatly exacerbated by the bombardment and siege.

The aerial bombardment has severely affecting infrastructure in Gaza, obstructing ambulance access to the injured. Around 3,000 people are reported to be missing and may be trapped under rubble.

There are critical shortages of blood, drugs and supplies (including medical oxygen).  Medical equipment is increasingly non-functional.

International Humanitarian Law strictly prohibits the use of starvation as a method of warfare. In 2018, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the use of starvation against civilians as a method of warfare and declared any denial of humanitarian access a violation of international law. Oxfam said that it is becoming painfully clear that the unfolding humanitarian situation in Gaza squarely fits the prohibition condemned in the resolution.

October saw just 2% of the usual food delivered to Gaza. Bakeries and supermarkets have been destroyed and some of the food aid allowed in – for example, rice and lentils – is useless, because people do not have clean water or fuel to prepare them. It is impossible to deliver many items due to fuel shortage, damaged roads and the risk of air strikes.

The electricity blackout has also disrupted food supplies by affecting refrigeration, crop irrigation, and crop incubation devices. Over 15,000 farmers have lost their crop production and 10,000 livestock breeders have little access to fodder, with many having lost their animals. The fishing industry has been crippled with hundreds of people who rely on fishing losing access to the sea.

Oxfam has slammed the US-UK call for ‘humanitarian pauses’ to Israel’s bombardment. Katy Chakrabortty, Oxfam Head of Advocacy, said: “Talk of humanitarian access is a false promise, when Israeli bombs continue to relentlessly hit civilians and children and when a full siege remains in place. Israel’s right to self-defence does not justify this appalling suffering and humanitarian crisis. It is evidently clear that Israel is violating International Humanitarian Law. As the UK government is aware, it is it illegal to target civilians or deny food, medicine and water. Yet this is exactly what has been happening for over a month now. The UK government has a moral and diplomatic responsibility to help bring about a permanent ceasefire and start the hard-nosed work towards peace.”

If international law were being observed, such pauses or corridors would not be necessary in the first place. History shows that they are fragile and often ignored, increasing the risk to civilians and making people fearful of using them.

Amnesty International agree. “In the face of the unprecedented humanitarian disaster in Gaza that is growing worse by the day, an immediate ceasefire by all parties is vital to enable aid agencies to get sufficient relief into the Strip and to distribute it safely and unconditionally. It would give hospitals an opportunity to receive life-saving medicines,  water and equipment they desperately need as well as to repair damaged wards,” said Agnès Callamard, AI Secretary General.

“An immediate ceasefire is also the most effective way to protect civilians as warring parties continue to commit grave violations. It could prevent the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza and could also provide an opportunity to secure the safe release of hostages.”

Yesterday in Parliament

Yesterday, the House of Commons debated the situation in Israel and the occupied Territories. Both Government and Opposition front benches talked up their humanitarian credentials but refused to call for an immediate ceasefire, the one step that all key aid agencies in the field believe is vital to saving lives in Gaza.

Several backbench Labour MPs did, however. Birmingham MP Tahir Ali pointed out that several United Nations experts had warned that “the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide”, and that the time is now “running out” to prevent such a tragedy. He asked: “Given those warnings, will the Minister finally stand with 76% of the British public and call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza?”

Imran Hussain MP, who resigned as Shadow Minister earlier this month because of Keir Starmer’s refusal to call for a ceasefire, said: “Thousands of innocent men, women and children have been killed and thousands more wounded in this conflict over the past month. As the ground operation and bombing campaign intensifies, as encircled hospitals run out of power and medicine, as babies are left to die outside their incubators, and as more than 2 million Palestinians remain trapped in a never-ending humanitarian nightmare, does the Minister agree that the international community must protect civilians? If he does, why will the Government not join me in pressing for an immediate ceasefire to end the bloodshed, allow desperately needed aid to reach those most in need, and create space for meaningful negotiations and a peaceful resolution?”

Socialist Campaign Group Secretary Richard Burgon MP also spoke up for a ceasefire: “France’s President Macron has called for a ceasefire, joining other European nations such as Spain, Norway, Portugal and Ireland, as well as the UN Secretary-General… Is it not time for our Government to add their weight to the push for a ceasefire, rather than dismissing out of hand a proposal that has growing international support?”

His fellow Leeds MP Alex Sobel and several others criticised the Israeli siege of Gaza and Hackney MP Diane Abbott pointed out that that the Western line of “short humanitarian pauses will not end the slaughter.”

Liverpool MP Ian Byrne, Eltham MP Clive Efford, Ealing MP Rupa Huq and Bedford MP Mohammad Yasin also called for a ceasefire, the latter saying: “The Archbishop of Canterbury and the French President are the latest leaders to call for a ceasefire, joining the heads of several UN bodies, millions of British people, 120 nations and many Members of this House. More than 11,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, of whom nearly half were children. That cannot be just.”

Ilford MP Sam Tarry MP said: “What we are seeing from the IDF at the moment is so far removed from what can be described as ‘self-defence’. Israeli Government officials have called Gazans ‘human animals’ and referenced the use of nuclear weapons on Gaza. Netanyahu himself has cited Amalek in the Book of Samuel, which mentions killing and slaughtering every child, animal and person. On top of that, Israeli Ministers have handed out machine guns to people in the West Bank. I have not heard a moral case—let alone a logical case—from anybody in this House for not joining all the Arab world, the UN, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope in calling for an immediate ceasefire in order to get hostages out and humanitarian aid in.”

Coventry MP Zarah Sultana raised the issue of UK weapons sales to Israel: “The Minister’s call for Israel to follow international law in Gaza rings utterly hollow when we know that that is not happening. The United Nations Secretary-General, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have been clear that Israel is clearly and grossly violating international humanitarian law. Since 2015, this Government have licensed more than £472 million of arms exports to Israel, including parts of F-35 stealth aircraft, which are currently raining down bombs on Gaza.”

Cynon Valley MP Beth Winter said: “On Friday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said that Israeli forces opened fire on the intensive care unit at Al-Quds Hospital, and Médecins Sans Frontières reported a doctor in Al-Shifa Hospital saying that a sniper attacked four patients inside that hospital. We are seeing babies dying—what is happening is a stain on our collective humanity. I implore the Government please to join the overwhelming majority of the British public, humanitarian organisations and other nations in calling for an immediate ceasefire, to prevent the further death of innocent civilians and resolve what is a humanitarian catastrophe.”

East London MP Rushanara Ali pointed out that in 2010, David Cameron had condemned the blockade of Gaza as a “prison camp”. “The siege conditions have remained,” she said, “and that is the context in which this war has claimed the lives of 11,000 civilians in Gaza, following the horrific Hamas attacks that have cost the lives of 1,400 innocent civilians and led to the hostage taking of over 200 people. The reality is that the longer the Gaza war continues, the more palpable is the danger of further contagion not only in the West Bank and Jerusalem, but across the region. We could be on the precipice of a regional war, and of tensions enduring beyond Gaza and Israel and causing full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. That is why it is imperative for our Government to work with international partners to seek the cessation of hostilities and to work for an enduring humanitarian ceasefire.”

Image: Palestine march in London, October 28th 2023. c/o Labour Hub

Article contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.