I have here a reply give'n to my contact from Abtisam Mohamed, Mp for Sheffield Central and one of the key MP's trying to get Keir Starmer to take further action.
Here is his answer, its is long, but it is very comprehensive and answers all the queries as far as I can see.
Famine/Humanitarian aid crisis
It is the dire lack of aid, the use of starvation as a weapon of war and of collective punishment of innocent Palestinians, that are the pressing concerns As I write, the situation couldn’t be more urgent. Israel’s so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been the disaster that the UN and aid agencies warned it would be.
As well as air strikes, drone attacks, shelling and gunfire by the Israeli Defence Forces, shootings at and around the so-called aid sites have left more than 1,000 people dead as they queued for food and water. Human Rights Watch have said that these acts amount to serious violations of international law and are war crimes.
The IPC, which represents UN agencies and charities, have declared a famine, and say that there is mounting evidence that “widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease” are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths in Gaza.
Israel has responded to pressure by allowing pauses in the fighting, but that is nowhere near enough to tackle the sheer scale of this crisis, and neither is the air dropping of aid parcels, which has been rightly condemned as “a sprinkling of symbolism”.
I will press Ministers to ensure that the 6,000 trucks worth of aid that UNRWA currently has sitting at the border are given immediate entry
Recognition of a Palestinian state
I’m delighted that the UK government announced that it intends to recognise the state of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September. This will now be alongside the French and the Canadians.
This is a historic step that I’ve pressed the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister on ever since I was elected. As many media outlets have reported, it follows the signing of a letter (on July 25) by 221 MPs - and I’m proud to say I was one of them - that demanded recognition.
Dr Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, gave a warm welcome to the Prime Minister’s plan for peace
Pressure from MPs works
I was one of 60 MPs a few weeks ago (on July 12) who sent a similar letter from the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, of which I am a member, calling for immediate recognition. The Guardian picked up on this here: www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/12/labour-mps-call-uk-immediately-recognise-palestinian-state
Today marks the culmination of many months, weeks and hours of pressure applied by myself and other Labour MPs, with increasing frequency as the hellscape of Gaza worsened further since the spring.
We have been working behind the scenes, meeting ministers and urging them to take strong steps at every opportunity, but also making plain our views publicly in the House of Commons and in letters.
What about the word ‘unless
I know some people will be concerned that the Prime Minister said that the UK would take this historic step in two months’ time “unless” Israel takes “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza”, including through allowing the UN to restart without delay the supply of humanitarian support, agreeing to a ceasefire, and making clear there will be no annexations in the West Bank.
And note this posters!
I issued a statement that Recognition cannot be conditional on Israel's conduct. Palestinian statehood is an inalienable right and should be treated as such not just because it is the right thing to do; but because it is a moral and historic responsibility. I will continue to push for this
Student evacuations
I am leading on a campaign to evacuate Palestinian students who have been offered fully funded conditional and unconditional places at universities across England but are trapped in Gaza. Scholarship programme routes are well established and have been offered by universities for many years, however due to the war, students now face unimaginable obstacles.
Within the first 100 days of the war, every university in the Gaza Strip had been bombed, leaving over 90,000 students without access to higher education. By the middle of last year, more than 80% of schools, many of which were being used as shelters, had been destroyed or severely damaged.
I am in regular communication with the students and Ministers to get students evacuated and will continue this campaign until every student with a scholarship to a UK university can safely travel to begin their studies here.
My other work in Parliament on Gaza
As regular readers of my monthly Parliamentary updates will be aware, I have been among a group of Labour MPs who have been pushing hard for the UK to do more, from sanctioning extremist Israeli ministers and violent settlers to practical projects like flying injured children out of Gaza to the UK for treatment.
Sanctions of Israeli Ministers
I said in a Commons statement that we had to sanction the extremists in the Israeli Cabinet - not just settlers themselves. I said: “Smotrich has also said that Israel will carry out the “conquering” and “cleansing” of the Gaza strip. Prime Minister Netanyahu has praised those words, saying that Smotrich was speaking the truth. That is effectively an explicit admission that Israeli officials intend to carry out ethnic cleansing… and why are we not sanctioning Minister Smotrich?”
On June 10, the UK government did indeed impose those sanctions on Smotrich and Ben Gvir, along with an alliance of other countries.
Iran
Soon after then, Israel launched its attack on Iran, during which it continued to kill many Gazans while the world’s attention was focused elsewhere.
I was relieved to see a halt in the recent escalation between Israel and Iran, which in my view was an unprovoked act of aggression. I spoke in Parliament to oppose further military intervention, despite facing criticism from others in the House. The dominant narrative that Israel’s actions were purely defensive due to Iran’s nuclear intentions is not supported by concrete evidence. It reminded me uncomfortably of the unfounded justifications for the Iraq War. The Prime Minister rightly emphasised that de-escalation is essential, and even the Attorney General acknowledged that Israel’s strike was likely unlawful under international law.
Medics from Gaza
Last month, I hosted a Parliamentary briefing with three doctors recently returned from Gaza, Dr Victoria Rose, Dr James Smith, and Dr Goher Rahbour. Their testimonies were harrowing: they spoke of the deliberate dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare system, repeated attacks on civilians and hospitals, and the complete blockage of medical aid. Their evidence underlines why the UK must do more to ensure that aid reaches those who need it and to hold all parties accountable for violations of international law.
Over the summer recess, I am coordinating meetings between doctors who have returned from Gaza and Ministers, and will continue this work once Parliament returns.
Foreign Affairs Select Committee (FAC)
As a member of the FAC committee, our longstanding inquiry into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict came to an end, with the final report released at the end of July, This can be accessed here. The timely release of the report calls for:
an immediate ceasefire
recognition of a Palestinian state
a ban on all trade with illegal settlements
During a recent session of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, I also directly challenged both the Foreign Secretary and his highest ranking staff on the UK’s obligations under international humanitarian law, especially in light of the leaked letter from FCDO officials expressing deep concern about UK policy and their own inability to speak freely on Gaza. These are not minor issues, they speak to a broader failure of accountability and diplomacy. As a signatory to the Rome Statute, we have an obligation to prevent genocide, both directly and indirectly, and I will continue to push for the UK to do everything in its power to meet that obligation
I know there is more we can all do.
But we are seeing the biggest shift both Labour policy and in British foreign policy on this issue in decades which is a major step forward in giving the Palestinian people the formal recognition of their homeland that they have long deserved but sadly been too long denied
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