MEND STATEMENT: Keir Starmer’s Continued Refusal to Call for Gaza Ceasefire Must Be Condemned

MEND strongly condemns the ongoing refusal by the Labour Party leadership to call for an immediate ceasefire in the beleaguered Gaza Strip, highlighted by a Commons amendment Labour will table today.

Reportedly, Labour leader Keir Starmer’s amendment will express his party’s concern over the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Demonstrating his expressed keenness to remain in lockstep with the position of the United States, the Labour amendment calls for pauses in hostilities to allow for desperately-needed humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. However, once again, Sir Keir stops short of calling for what the rest of the world can see is the only way out of the apocalyptic horror that is swallowing Gaza: an immediate ceasefire.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli military operations has now well exceeded 11,000, two-thirds of whom are children and women. Over the last 24 hours, Israeli forces stormed Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, after days of besieging it with tanks and firing artillery into its close proximity. Yet, apparently none of this is enough to force Starmer into taking the morally correct position of demanding that Israel silence its guns.

Labour’s amendment will be tabled within the context of a broader vote today in Parliament, in which MPs will have their say on whether to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. MEND asks all MPs and parties to vote in favour of a ceasefire. Any MP who refuses to do so should be held accountable at the next election for standing silent in the face of Israel’s genocidal campaign.