Labour CND today issued the following statement on the situation in Gaza:
In the week following the horrific attacks by Hamas which killed more than 1,300 Israeli civilians, over 2,000 Palestinians in the occupied territory of Gaza have died in retaliatory air strikes. As the first of these took place, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced: ‘We are striking our enemies with unprecedented might. I emphasise that this is only the beginning.’ Israel is now planning for an air, land, and sea attack on Gaza.
Large parts of Gaza have been reduced to rubble, and the UN estimates that almost one million Gazans are already displaced. As the situation escalates and civilian casualties mount, international agencies are warning of an impending humanitarian disaster while the media is rife with talk about the possibility of a wider war in the Middle East.
United Nations has warned against ‘indiscriminate or disproportionate action against Gaza’ and expressed concern over the ‘full siege’ of Gaza, describing shutting off electricity, water, food, and fuel supplies as ‘collective punishment’. The Secretary General has called for the immediate release of all Israeli hostages and underscored the need for ‘rapid and unimpeded’ humanitarian access to Gaza.
World Health Organisation ‘strongly condemns Israel’s repeated orders for the evacuation of 22 hospitals treating more than 2000 inpatients in northern Gaza. The forced evacuation of patients and health workers will further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe. The lives of many critically ill and fragile patients hang in the balance.’
Oxfam UK Director Danny Sriskandarajah told BBC News: ‘We work in some of the most difficult situations in the world, in Yemen, in Syria, and Somalia. But this is unprecedented. There is no way we can get things in or people out.’
Labour CND opposes all attacks on Israeli and Palestinian civilians. History has already shown that military confrontations offer no long-term solution to a crisis which has deep roots. In the words of UN Secretary General António Guterres: ‘The most recent violence does not come in a vacuum, but grows out of a long-standing conflict, with a 56-year long occupation and no political end in sight.’
Labour CND calls for the release of Israeli hostages, for military de-escalation, and for real and meaningful peace talks, brokered by the international community and taking on board the security of Palestinian and Israeli civilians.
We do so, however, in the knowledge that the United States has already committed material support to its regional ally. This includes supplying bunker busting munitions to Israel which are banned from use in densely populated areas under the Geneva Convention due to the risk of mass civilian casualties.
The US is also deploying a second aircraft battle group to the eastern Mediterranean to join a group already in the area, and relocating a marine amphibious-ready group from the Gulf. This show of force on the side of Israel by the leader of NATO suggests escalation rather than de-escalation.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer have also clearly expressed their firm support for Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’. A 100,000-strong emergency demonstration on the streets of London on Saturday, together with thousands more on the streets of Manchester, Stockport, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen including Labour members and affiliates however, showed that a significant section of public opinion in Britain strongly disagrees with this bipartisan approach by the government and opposition.
Labour CND believes Keir Starmer’s statement in support of Israel, which is using disproportionate force and endangering civilians in responding to Hamas attacks, contradicts Labour Party policy which has expressed clear support for Palestinians at successive annual conferences.
16 October 2023