UK opposition leader, MPs voice concern over planned Rafah operation, urge immediate cease-fire

LONDON

Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader and MPs on Monday expressed concern over Israel’s threatened military offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, reiterating their call for an immediate cease-fire.

Sketching out the dire situation in Rafah, a southern Gaza Strip city packed with more than 1 million displaced Palestinians, Labour leader Keir Starmer said an Israeli offensive "must not go ahead."

"There must be an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, and unimpeded aid into Gaza that can be delivered regularly, quickly and safely," he wrote on X.

David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, said that an Israeli operation in Rafah would be "catastrophic" and it must not go ahead.

Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, reiterated their demand for an immediate cease-fire, the release of hostages, and unimpeded aid to Gaza.

Afzal Khan, Labour Party MP for Manchester Gorton, said he is "horrified" by the scenes coming out of Rafah, stressing this "unnecessary escalation" risks the lives of 1.5 million Gazans.

"The UK Govt must condemn Netanyahu's actions in the strongest possible terms and suspend arms sales immediately," he wrote on X.

Lisa Nandy, Labour MP for Wigan, also expressed her opposition to a possible Rafah operation, saying that there is no safe place left in Gaza to go.

"I repeat calls for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of hostages, and unimpeded aid to Gaza," she wrote on X.

Baroness Hussein-Ece, a member of the House of Lords, called Israel's Monday evacuation order for Rafah a "declaration to attack the 600K children (of Rafah) & their families, to attack the remaining lives & any possibility of a future."

"Racist Western logic makes this a ‘policy debate’ rather than a massacre of innocents in plain sight," she added.

Israel has reportedly begun evacuating some neighborhoods in Rafah despite widespread opposition from the international community to its plans to invade the city.

Rafah is home to more than 1.5 million Palestinians, who have taken refuge from the war launched by Israel following a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 that killed some 1,200 people.

Since then, the Israeli onslaught has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians, mostly women and children, besides causing a humanitarian catastrophe.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.