Senior Labour figure Rachel Reeves has urged Israel to show greater “restraint” in Gaza, as the party prepares for an awkward vote on a ceasefire in parliament.
Sir Keir Starmer continues to come under pressure from Labour MPs, councillor and activists to end his refusal to back a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
In the strongest remarks yet by a frontbencher, the shadow chancellor criticised Israel for failing to show enough “restraint” in its bombardment of Gaza.
Ms Reeves told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m incredibly concerned about the scenes we’re seeing in Gaza, particularly at the hospitals. I understand and respect the need for Israel to bring its hostages home and to defeat Hamas.
“But what is happening to innocent civilians and particularly babies in that hospital is heartbreaking and I would urge Israel to show restraint – to show restraint, allow water, medicine, fuel into Gaza and into those hospitals.”
She called on Rishi Sunak’s government and international allies “to put more pressure on [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government to show the restraint that we’re not seeing at the moment”.
US president Joe Biden has said hospitals in the Gaza Strip must be protected and he hoped for “less intrusive” action by Israel, as Israeli tanks advanced to the gates of the Al Shifa Hospital.
Following Mr Biden’s rhetoric, Ms Reeves also defended Mr Starmer’s refusal to back a ceasefire – despite growing pressure from the Labour grassroots and a rebellion by his own MPs.
The shadow chancellor suggested Israel could not negotiate with Hamas. “A ceasefire is not something you can dictate, a ceasefire it has to be negotiated,” Ms Reeves told the Today programme.
“You have Hamas saying that they want to perpetrate the attacks, that they perpetrated on 7 October, again and again and again. These are not the people who are going to agree to a ceasefire.”
Starmer has been grappling to maintain discipline over the Gaza conflict
More than 65 Labour MPs – including 18 Labour frontbenchers – have defied Sir Keir’s position. Almost 50 councillors have quit the party and more than 330 local leaders have urged him to back down.
It comes as some rebel Labour MP prepare to vote with the SNP – as the Scottish nationalists try to push an amendment to the King’s Speech calling for a ceasefire to a vote in the Commons on Wednesday.
Ms Reeves batted away questions on the ceasefire vote, saying it was not yet clear whether Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle would allow a vote on the amendment.
Some Labour MPs hoping to engineer a vote believe it could be a “cathartic” moment that would “flush out” more opposition, and force Sir Keir to recognise how unpopular his views are with supporters.
Sir Keir has been warned that the resignation of frontbencher Imran Hussain over the party’s refusal to back a ceasefire “won’t be the last”.
Ms Reeves’ remarks criticising Israel follow a call for foreign secretary David Lammy for a “full and immediate humanitarian pause” – as the party continues to stop short of backing a ceasefire.
Last week Mr Lammy accused Israeli ministers of “unacceptable and offensive rhetoric” about Palestinians and condemned acts of “violence and extremism” by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
In a letter to then-foreign secretary James Cleverly, the Labour frontbencher said that “as the occupying power, Israel has obligations under international law that it must uphold”.
Meanwhile former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn clashed with Piers Morgan on the conflict, when the Talk TV host repeatedly questioned whether the left-winger agreed that Hamas is a terrorist group.
Mr Corbyn, the independent Islington North MP, responded by repeatedly calling for a ceasefire. He later told Times Radio: “Of course it [7 October] was a terror attack and it was an awful attack.”
It comes as Israeli tanks have taken up positions outside Al Shifa hospital, Gaza City’s main medical centre, which Israel says sits atop tunnels housing a headquarters for Hamas fighters who are using patients as shields. Hamas denies the Israeli claim.
