LABOUR is preparing to back an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as Wes Streeting has declared Israel “has gone too far”.
Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to endorse a key vote in Parliament this week calling for an urgent halt to hostilities amid fears it could drag the party into fresh crisis.
PASir Keir Starmer speaking at Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow on Sunday[/caption]
While the Labour Leader has not yet taken a clear stance on SNP-led motion itself, he and other senior party figures have signalled a shift in position.
Sir Keir previously backed a sustainable ceasefire but over the weekend, he said the fighting between Israel and Hamas “must stop now”.
Sir Keir also said he was “happy to work with the SNP about the motion that’s tabled”.
Meanwhile, speaking to Sky News this morning, the Shadow Health Secretary said Israel’s actions in Gaza had gone “beyond reasonable self-defence”.
Mr Streeting said: “We want to see a ceasefire, of course we do. And we have been increasingly concerned, as the wider international community has been, with the disproportionate loss of civilian life in Gaza.
“Israel has a responsibility to get its hostages back, every country in the world has a right to defend itself.
“But I think what we have seen are actions that go beyond reasonable self-defence and also call into question whether Israel has broken international law.
“The ICJ (International Court of Justice) are now investigating and we take all of that seriously.”
Asked whether he thought Israel had gone too far, Mr Streeting replied: “I think, objectively, yes, Israel has gone too far. And we have seen that with a disproportionate loss of innocent civilian life.”
He also insisted Labour would set out its position on the SNP’s motion for a ceasefire in Gaza “shortly”.
A similar vote in November last year saw eight shadow ministers break ranks to back an immediate ceasefire, with some 56 Labour MPs defying a three-line whip and voting for an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech.
Fears of a repeat would have been mounting within the party, particularly after Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, described the SNP’s motion as “perfectly reasonable”.
The SNP’s Westminster chief Stephen Flynn has said he has offered to meet Sir Keir on Monday to discuss the vote, scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
It comes after a row over the Rochdale by-election, which saw Labour dithering and then ditching its candidate Azhar Ali for making antisemitic remarks.
A second parliamentary candidate, Graham Jones, was also suspended for comments about Israel at the same meeting Mr Ali spoke.
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