Labour’s amendment called for the following:

• An immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The fighting must stop now.  Our amendment calls on the UK Government to convene an urgent session of the UN Security Council to press this demand.
• All sides must comply with a ceasefire. One sided demands that do not recognise the need to ensure that an attack like October 7th cannot happen again or do not condemn Hamas terrorism will not succeed.
• The Rafah offensive must not take place and aid must reach those in need. An offensive in Rafah would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences for Palestinian civilians and must be averted. Civilians in Gaza need rapid and unimpeded humanitarian relief.
• Hamas must release and return all hostages.The families of the remaining hostages are frozen in uncertainty and anguish and their continued detention is prolonging this war.  They should be released and returned immediately.
• Israel must comply with the ICJ ruling. As Labour has made clear, the binding provisional measures issued by the court must be implemented in full.
• Settlement expansion and settler violence must end.Settlements are illegal under international law and a serious barrier to peace that threaten the viability of a two-state solution. Settler violence has reached dangerous new levels since October 7th.
• We need a political process towards a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a sovereign and viable Palestinian state. This is the only path to a just and lasting peace. A ceasefire with no political horizon will not be sustainable.
• We support the recognition of Palestine. A Labour government would work with international partners to recognise Palestine as a contribution to rather than the outcome of a two state solution. Statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and not in the gift of any neighbour.

Read the full text of the motion:

“That this House believes that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah risks catastrophic humanitarian consequences and therefore must not take place; notes the intolerable loss of Palestinian life, the majority being women and children; condemns the terrorism of Hamas who continue to hold hostages; supports Australia, Canada and New Zealand’s calls for Hamas to release and return all hostages and for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which means an immediate stop to the fighting and a ceasefire that lasts and is observed by all sides, noting that Israel cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence and that Israelis have the right to the assurance that the horror of 7th October cannot happen again; therefore supports diplomatic mediation efforts to achieve a lasting ceasefire; demands that rapid and unimpeded humanitarian relief is provided in Gaza; demands an end to settlement expansion and violence; urges Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures; calls for the UN Security Council to meet urgently; and urges all international partners to work together to establish a diplomatic process to deliver the peace of a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state, including working with international partners to recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to rather than outcome of that process, because statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and not in the gift of any neighbour.”