End complicity and stop Israel’s war on Gaza, UK lawmaker urges government

By Burak Bir and Zuhal Demirci

LONDON (AA) – Labour Party lawmaker Zarah Sultana has reiterated her call for the British government to end arms sales to Israel and exert more pressure for an immediate halt to its devastating war on Gaza.

“I want the UK government to be putting pressure on the Israeli government and all parties to achieve a cease-fire,” Sultana told Anadolu at a rally in London.

“We know that there are negotiations constantly ongoing. It is for our government to use every means necessary … to pursue that aim for a cease-fire and for aid to be able to flow freely into Gaza, which we know is not happening.”

The situation in the Gaza Strip is “absolutely horrifying” after “seven months of war crimes on war crimes,” she said.

“Neighborhoods flattened, schools and universities completely destroyed, over 40,000 people killed, disproportionately women and children,” she said.

“Famine has already set in Gaza and that’s incredibly, incredibly concerning.”

Israel is facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its assault on Gaza, which has killed and wounded tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced millions more, leaving them facing famine and acute shortages of medical aid and other essentials.

Israeli attacks have also laid waste to large swaths of the besieged enclave, devastating everything from housing to medical facilities, educational institutes, and all sorts of civic infrastructure.

On Israel’s invasion of the southern Gaza region of Rafah, Sultana emphasized the dire need for an immediate cease-fire and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid, as well as the release of Israeli hostages.

“Importantly, whether the UK is complicit (with) arms sales, that needs to end too. That is our message to our government,” she asserted.

Israel’s evacuation order and military operation in Rafah, an area packed with 1.5 million displaced Palestinians, has been met with a chorus of criticism from across the world, including its Western allies.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also recently said that the UK has been “very consistent that we are … deeply concerned about the prospect of a military incursion into Rafah, given the number of civilians sheltering there and the importance of that crossing for aid.”

However, Sultana stressed that Sunak and his government need to do more, adding that like many around the world, she is “absolutely heartbroken” to see the harrowing images of Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.

“I just wish it would stop, and what I’m doing as a parliamentarian in the UK is doing everything to put pressure on my government to make it stop. That’s what we all have to do,” she said.