Labour has warned that the “siege conditions” in place in Gaza are unacceptable and called for an immediate humanitarian pause to the fighting, in the party’s strongest intervention over Israel’s intensifying war against Hamas. David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary who visited the region last week, said that the “number of dead Palestinian civilians and children is shocking” as he called on Israel to take further steps to stop a “humanitarian catastrophe”. He said that Israel “must uphold international law” and also warned of violence in the West Bank. Lammy’s intervention follows the plea of US secretary of state Antony Blinken, who has warned that more needed to be done “to protect Palestinian civilians” and that Israel risked destroying the possibility for peace unless it acted to ease the crisis unfolding in Gaza. Yesterday, Blinken staunchly defended Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas, but added that “how it does it matters”. Writing in the Observer, Lammy defended his party’s refusal to back a more formal ceasefire, despite about one in six of the MPs on Starmer’s own frontbench now calling for one. Those who oppose a ceasefire say Israel has an urgent need to defend itself against a group which has threatened more attacks on civilians and denies Israel’s right to exist. Lammy said that while he understood the calls for a ceasefire, it would “just embolden Hamas”, who still hold hundreds of Israeli hostages. He also said Hamas would retain the “capacity and determination to repeat the horrors” of their brutal 7 October attack.
However, Lammy also expressed his party’s strongest concerns to date over the ongoing fighting in Gaza as he called for a pause in fighting. “Even wars have rules,” he wrote. “The way Israel fights this war matters. They must uphold international law. The Palestinian people are not Hamas and the children of Gaza must be protected. It is unacceptable that the siege conditions on the strip have not been lifted. “The number of dead Palestinian civilians and children is shocking, and as Anthony Blinken has said, Israel must take ‘concrete steps’ to protect innocent lives. And we must redouble our calls to end illegal settlement activity, intimidation and violence on the West Bank.” Lammy revealed that if Labour wins power, it would “strive to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state”, as part of a recommitment to find a two-state solution to the crisis. He also revealed Labour would appoint a new special envoy dedicated to Middle East peace should it win the next election. A call for such a post has already been made by Alicia Kearns, the Tory chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee. “Britain, on this essential issue, has lost its way,” Lammy wrote. “It is intolerable that no government has put in sustained effort towards a two-state solution since New Labour. Recent Conservative governments have at times been dangerously irresponsible, by leaving out the two-state solution from their recent UK-Israel roadmap and announcing plans to move the UK embassy to Jerusalem. The task will be hard and Britain’s influence in the region has limits, but Labour recognises Britain’s historic responsibility, and will be different.” His comments come after another week in which Starmer and his team have been battling to contain Labour splits over his refusal to back a ceasefire. Some 18 frontbenchers have signalled their support for a ceasefire. Starmer’s internal critics also accuse him of refusing to set out clear red lines over Israel’s actions during media appearances in the last week. While a significant number of Labour MPs across the party are on record as backing a ceasefire, no frontbencher has yet resigned. The leader’s office is allowing a difference of opinion among MPs over the issue, though no shadow cabinet figure has yet publicly supported a ceasefire. Shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood has suggested Israel may be carrying out “collective punishment” of innocent civilians.
Senior figures within Labour are aware that the difficulties for the party over the crisis mean they are likely to be quizzed on individual incidents that emerge during the fighting. Starmer has been battling to hold the party together after a radio interview in which he appeared to suggest that Israel had the right to cut off power and water from Gaza. Labour figures believe the remarks were exacerbated by the party’s slow clarification that Starmer believed Israel “must submit to the rules of international law”. A slow stream of Labour MPs are continuing to emerge backing a ceasefire. There have been resignations among Labour councillors, as well as mass open letters calling for a change in policy. Two council leaders reopened the row last week when they called for Starmer to resign over Labour’s stance on the conflict. Other senior figures to back a full ceasefire are London mayor Sadiq Khan, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. Lammy wrote: “Hamas’s appalling terrorism against Israel on 7 October led to the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, whilst the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is playing out on an unimaginable scale, with the horror of thousands of civilians dead, flattened streets, and over a million displaced. We must not look away. Instead, once again diplomacy must work urgently to find those narrowing openings.” Yesterday, another large demonstration took place in Trafalgar Square in central London, with protesters calling for an immediate ceasefire. Protests have been taking place for several weeks. Elsewhere, police said they were investigating footage that emerged on social media of protesters on the London underground chanting for “intifada”. There were also sit-down protests at nearby Oxford Circus and Charing Cross. Protesters held up “Freedom for Palestine” placards and chanted for “ceasefire now”. The Met said it had made 11 arrests, including one for displaying a placard that could incite hate. It was reported that a protester in London was seen carrying a banner stating “Let’s keep the world clean”, with a picture of an Israeli flag being thrown into a bin. A similar banner seen at a Warsaw protest was criticised by the Israeli ambassador to Poland as “blatant antisemitism”. The demonstrations were mirrored in other major cities across Europe. In Paris, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported there were chants of “Israel is a murderer, France is an accomplice”. Police had warned that anyone chanting pro-Hamas slogans would be detained. Police in Berlin also issued a similar statement before protests in the German capital yesterday.