Labour’s legislative move comes as the U.K. House of Commons gets set to debate a Scottish National Party (SNP) motion on Wednesday afternoon that calls for an “immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel”.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
The U.K.’s Labour Party has called for a “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas as it attempts to prevent a second rebellion among its MPs, who are deeply divided on Israel’s retaliation in Gaza for Hamas’s October 7 attack on its soil. With more than 29,000 Palestinians already killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel has threatened to expand operations and undertake a ground invasion of the city of Rafah, unless hostages are returned.
Labour’s legislative move comes as the U.K. House of Commons gets set to debate a Scottish National Party (SNP) motion on Wednesday afternoon that calls for an “immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel”. When the SNP last introduced a motion on the West Asia conflict, in November 2023, 56 Labour MPs, including eight frontbenchers had quit the party to support the motion.
Also Read | Party leaders in U.K. kick off general election year
The SNP welcomed what it called a “long overdue U-tun” by Labour leader Keir Starmer whose party is expected to win the general elections later this year.
“It’s telling that it took the SNP to insert a backbone into the Labour party and act as Westminster’s conscience on this conflict,” SNP parliamentary leader Stephen Flynn said in a statement.
Labour introduced its amendment to address what its shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy called “unbalanced” language in the SNP amendment.
The SNP motion condemns the “military assault on what is now the largest refugee camp” and for Israel to end the “collective punishment” of Palestinians. The SNP motion also calls on Hamas to immediately release all the hostages it took on October 7.
Editorial | Two states: On the Palestine question and the U.K.
There are differences in the language between the SNP motion and the Labour amendment, which does not refer to “collective punishment”. It also says, “Israel cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence”. The Labour amendment also mentions alignment with the position of some of the U.K.’s allies.
The Rishi Sunak government has tabled its own amendment to the motion as well, calling for an “immediate humanitarian pause”. Over 29,000 people — most of them civilians and children — have been killed by Israel’s attack on Gaza.
