There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Labour has been calling for this for many months.

As the opposition party in Parliament, Labour is not part of international negotiations, the Conservative government is. But now is a moment for the whole international community to ramp up diplomatic pressure to bring the fighting to an end.

There must be a ceasefire to prevent any further civilian deaths.

All hostages must be released.

There must be unimpeded aid to Gaza. The UN Security Council has passed a resolution demanding all this. It must be implemented now.

Ultimately there has to be accountability for how this war is being conducted, which is why we have already called for the implementation of the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures.

It is also why we have always supported the independence of the International Criminal Court.

The scenes in Rafah are horrific.

As Keir Starmer has explicitly said, Netanyahu must be told to stop.

There must be a ceasefire, the hostages must be released, aid must be provided, & we must move to a lasting peace based on 2 states – an independent Palestine, alongside a secure Israel.

Watch Keir Starmer’s statement here:

Transcript

Journalist: As [a potential] UK prime minister, what would you be saying right now to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu?

Keir Starmer: Stop

Those scenes, those reports are horrifying.

And you know what makes it worse is that this was a safe zone, with women and children in it and families, that already fled a number of times.

It is horrifying to see that.

I’ve been saying for some time that the Rafah offensive should not take place. And what you saw there was the consequences, the inevitable consequences of that offensive.

It should not take place.

And we should join with our allies to ensure that it doesn’t take place.

There needs to be a ceasefire.

It needs to be in place straight away.

And that means, to provide the space for hostages to come out for humanitarian aid, to desperately get in and to provide a foot in the door for the process, the political process.

That’s the only long-term way through this, to a two-state solution, which includes in the process, the recognition of Palestine as a viable state alongside a safe and secure Israel.

So to be very clear about this, I was shocked by what I saw, overnight.

I think any human being would be shocked by what they saw, overnight.

It’s got to stop.

ENDS