This evening, MPs will have the chance to vote for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel. The SNP will use our House of Commons “opposition day” debate to hold a vote – so the UK parliament and government can join mounting international pressure for an end to hostilities.
This is the second opportunity MPs have had to vote for a ceasefire. The SNP forced a similar vote back in November. Despite a significant number of cross-party MPs supporting us then, that vote failed, regrettably, because Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer ordered Tory and Labour MPs to oppose a ceasefire – and threatened sanctions if they disobeyed their party whip.
Since that vote, thousands of innocent Palestinian children and civilians have been killed by unrelenting Israeli military strikes, and huge swathes of Gaza have been obliterated under constant bombardment, including hospitals, family homes and refugee camps.
The death toll now stands at more than 29,000, with UN workers, journalists, doctors, nurses and pregnant women among the innocent victims killed in their homes and workplaces.
Every day, mothers are burying their children; more than 7,700 young lives have been extinguished in a war they had no part in instigating. Many of those “lucky” enough to survive are losing their parents and grandparents to bombs and bullets, with more children orphaned every single day.
We know that if this conflict continues a moment longer, the scale of the humanitarian disaster will become even more unimaginable – and the devastation caused will be even more horrific.
The threat of famine and starvation is now a daily reality in Gaza, as Israeli blockades leave families without food or clean water. With aid convoys denied permits to enter, we are seeing growing reports of families going without food for days, being forced to drink dirty water, and desperately relying on ground animal feed to provide some sort of sustenance.
Those in need of medical treatment are also going without. The sick, disabled, elderly and wounded are being denied the treatment they need because medicine, medical facilities and trained staff are in short supply. Horror stories are emerging of caesarean sections and surgeries being conducted without anaesthetic, and pregnant women are living in fear of giving birth.
Almost 2 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes. Many of them have been driven to Rafah, where 1.5 million people have sought shelter in Gaza’s overcrowded southern city. They now face the very real threat of a full-scale military assault ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – with no evacuation plan and nowhere safe to go.
That is the intolerable reality of life in Gaza for millions of Palestinians who have no part to play in the Israel-Hamas conflict, and who are just trying to live their lives, like the rest of us, in a region blighted by war and occupation.
For five long months, the UK has refused to join the growing international pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel – and, as a result, Westminster has made one less likely.
Instead, the UK government has followed Sunak and Starmer’s preferred strategy of equivocation. The death toll shows it hasn’t worked. The time for equivocation is over. It’s time for Westminster to join the international community and say “enough is enough”.
No one is claiming that the situation in Gaza and Israel will be simple to resolve, and no one is pretending that one vote at Westminster will magically result in a ceasefire overnight. But a ceasefire is more likely to happen if the UK parliament and government join international pressure.
The leaders of the UN, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many more of our European neighbours, are among those calling for an immediate ceasefire. As an ally of Israel, and the United States, the UK government has a particular moral duty to apply the maximum diplomatic pressure.
In Scotland, the SNP government has shown moral clarity and political leadership, where it has been sorely lacking in Westminster. Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, has been clear about our values, demanding a ceasefire, urging Hamas to release Israeli hostages and calling on the Israeli government to end the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
After months of failure, I hope Sunak and Starmer finally find the courage to change their position and vote for the SNP motion for an immediate ceasefire tonight. If they fail, I urge Labour and Tory MPs to vote with their conscience for an immediate ceasefire. The situation in Gaza is too important to put narrow Westminster party loyalties ahead of doing the right thing.
While we wholeheartedly welcomed the apparent change in Starmer’s position yesterday, it’s essential that Labour MPs now put that verbal change into practice – and vote for the SNP motion tonight. There can be no more prevarication; the UK must back an immediate ceasefire in no uncertain terms.
That clear statement, and clear intent, is the only message that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government will understand. It is the best pressure we can now apply. By finally joining the vast majority of the international community in pressing for that ceasefire, we can instigate a fresh diplomatic effort to stop the slaughter of even more innocent civilians and children.
It is the only way to stop the imminent assault on Rafah, secure the unconditional release of all the remaining hostages taken by Hamas, get vital aid into Gaza, and finally put an end to the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Stephen Flynn is the MP for Aberdeen South and leader of the SNP in the House of Commons
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