Keir Starmer faces rebellion over Gaza as almost 30 Labour MPs (and ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn) demand immediate ceasefire – but leader’s spokesman says Israel has a right to rescue hostages held by Hamas terrorists

Labour leader Keir Starmer today distanced himself from a group of almost 30 of his backbenchers who are demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The group, mainly made up of supporters of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, are among more than 40 MPs voicing ‘deep alarm at the Israeli military bombardment and total siege of Gaza’.

The MPs have signed an early day motion – a non-binding way MPs can show their feelings on a particular issue – demanding an immediate end to the conflict that has engulfed the Palestinian enclave. 

The argue that while Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, which left more than 1,300 dead last week, and subsequent hostage taking, were ‘horrific’, they ‘do not justify responding with the collective punishment of the Palestinian people’.

Signatories include former ministers Liam Byrne and Tony Lloyd, and Sam Tarry, who was a shadow minister until last year. Mr Corbyn, who has since been expelled from the parliamentary Labour Party, is also a signatory, as are allies including John McDonnell and Richard Burgon. Tory former minister and Father of the house Peter Bottomley has also signed it.

But asked about the call for a ceasefire, a spokesman for Sir Keir said: ‘We have repeatedly said that Israel has the right to defend itself and has the right to retrieve hostages. That is the position Keir has set out.’

Labour leader Keir Starmer today distanced himself from a group of almost 30 of his backbenchers who are demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The group, mainly made up of supporters of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn (below) , are among more than 40 MPs voicing ‘deep alarm at the Israeli military bombardment and total siege of Gaza’.

Signatories include former Treasury minister Liam Byrne (right) and Sam Tarry (left), who was a shadow minister until last year

Quizzed about MPs accusing Israel of war crimes, the spokesman added: ‘Of course we would want to ensure everyone is conducting this debate, at what is a very difficult time, in a responsible way.

‘What Keir has done from the outset is set out very clearly what the Labour position is and you have seen that articulated by him and all of the shadow cabinet who have been out speaking on this issue and that’s what they’ll continue to do.’

The spokesman would not comment on private conversations, when asked if Sir Keir had spoken to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar about the party’s response to the crisis.

It follows a report by the Daily Record that Mr Sarwar was ‘unhappy’ with Sir Keir’s comments on Gaza in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks.

The EDM says the group of signatories ‘call for the Commons to expresses its deep alarm at the Israeli military bombardment and total siege of Gaza and the resulting deaths and suffering’ and ‘believes that the urgent priority must be to stop the deaths and suffering of any more civilians in Gaza and Israel’.

It supports calls from aid agencies ‘for the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to urgently press all parties to agree to an immediate de-escalation and cessation of hostilities, to ensure the immediate, unconditional release of the Israeli hostages’ and ‘to end to the total siege of Gaza’.

As well as the Labour MPs, other signatories include ex-party members Diane Abbott and Claudia Webbe, the former Green leader Caroline Lucas, and MPs from the SNP and Plaid Cymru.

President Joe Biden today said a devastating blast on a Gaza hospital that killed 500 people appears not to have been caused by Israel but instead ‘by the other team,’ referring to Palestinian terrorists.

Biden arrived in Israel today in a desperate bid to prevent the war with Hamas from spiralling into a wider conflict that would engulf the Middle East following the deadly fireball explosion at the hospital.

A huge blast ripped through the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City last night while it was being used to treat and shelter thousands of civilians who were trying to avoid Israel’s relentless barrage of airstrikes.

The devastating fireball has sparked a venomous blame game between Hamas and Israel, with the terrorists claiming it was the result of an Israeli air strike while the IDF blamed Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group, for a misfired rocket.

After being embraced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden told the leader it ‘appears’ the blast was not caused by Israel but instead ‘by the other team’. It’s not clear if he was referring to Islamic Jihad or Hamas terrorists.

Biden also condemned Hamas terrorists, who massacred 1,300 Israelis in a surprise attack on October 7, as being worse than ISIS. ‘Hamas have committed atrocities that make ISIS look more rational,’ Biden told Netanyahu.

His comments came after the Israeli military today provided what it called evidence to show that the attack wasn’t from them and there wasn’t a direct hit on the hospital before claiming there were no craters consistent with an airstrike.

The hospital blast has sparked a torrent of global anger, with Iran – Israel’s foe – declaring last night that the ‘time is up’ for the country and Tehran-backed terror group Hezbollah calling for a ‘day of rage’.

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