Lib Dem Spokesperson presses government to do more to support Israel-Hamas ceasefire

Welcoming the news of a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Liberal Democrat Foreign Spokesperson Calum Miller MP said:

This ceasefire is welcomed by all who have watched with horror as the suffering that began on the 7th of October 2023 has worsened for so many.

And I wish to add my thanks to all those who have worked so hard to deliver it.

I'm thinking today of the Palestinians and Israelis I have met whose lives have been torn apart by this conflict and to whom this news brings a moment of hope.

Of the British families of Israeli hostages who continue to live with uncertainty and fear about the fate of their loved ones, and of the Palestinians whose daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers have lost their lives and homes.

The priority must now be ensuring that humanitarian assistance floods into Gaza and that all efforts are made to secure the release of the remaining hostages, and I urge the Foreign Secretary to do everything in his power, as he has just said, to persuade Israel not to implement the Knessets resolution on UNRWA, which would do so much harm and undermine the progress that is being made.

I am today grateful that a deal has been reached.

But I'm also angry that it has taken so long.

In the months of delay, there's been no relief for the hostage families and so many more lives have been lost and so much more destruction visited on people in Gaza, including further deaths even since the ceasefire deal was announced.

The blocks to progress have been extremists on both sides, the terrorists in Hamas and the supporters of annexation in the Israeli cabinet.

People who do not want peace, but who want to erase another population from the land.

So I asked the Foreign Secretary.

Will the UK government isolate the extremists and empower the majority of Israelis and Palestinians who want peace?

Will he recommit to the UK to work tirelessly for a lasting peace through a two-state solution with a recognised Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

Will he redouble efforts in diplomacy and through financial measures against the backers and enablers of Hamas to cut off their funds?

Will he now prescribe the IRGC?

Will these spell out to the governments of Israel and to the US that settler violence and illegal annexation in the West Bank must stop.

And will the UK government now recognise the Palestinian state?