A group of mostly independent Muslim MPs have called on the UK to honour its obligations as a signatory of the Genocide Convention by militarily intervening in Gaza to save Palestinians from Israel’s genocide.
Adnan Hussain MP for Blackburn led the call in an official parliamentary letter sent to the foreign secretary Yvette Cooper on September 16 under the subject: “Demand for UK to urgently pursue UN-led military intervention to stop genocide in Gaza.”
The letter lays out a moral and legal argument for the action and comes following a UN investigation which found that Israel has committed acts of genocide in Gaza since October 2023.
It read: “I write to you with urgency and with grave concern following today’s announcement from the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which concluded unequivocally that acts of genocide are being committed by Israel in Gaza.
“This conclusion, grounded in international law and forensic evidence, finds that senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, have incited, directed, or facilitated genocidal acts.
“The UK is a founding signatory of the Genocide Convention and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. These positions are not ceremonial. They come with binding legal and moral obligations. Your government must now act.”
In a X post, Hussain shared pictures of the letter, saying in the post: “Letter to the Foreign Secretary urging this government to urgently pursue UN-led military intervention to stop genocide in Gaza. In 1994, the world failed to stop genocide in Rwanda. In 1995, we failed in Sbrebrenica. Today, in Gaza, we are again being tested. We must act now!”
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The letter received the support of fellow pro-Gaza Muslim independent MPs Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan, Iqbal Mohammed, and also a Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives, Andrew George.
Fellow pro- Palestine independents and co-founders of the new left-wing Your Party, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, failed to back the letter.
Genocide in Gaza
On Tuesday, a UN commission of inquiry report found that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The report says there are reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out by Israeli forces since the start of its war on Gaza in October 2023.
The report has evidenced interviews with victims, eye witnesses, doctors, verified open-source documents, and satellite imagery analysis compiled since the genocide began.
The commission also concluded that statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior other officials were “direct evidence of genocidal intent”.
It referenced a letter he wrote to Israeli soldiers in November 2023 comparing the Gaza operation to what the commission described as a “holy war of total annihilation” in the Hebrew Bible. The report also named the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and the former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
However, despite this latest revelation, the UK is unlikely to change its staunchly pro-Israel stance and has refused to recognise Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide.
At least 64,964 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023, as the death toll from hunger climbed to 428, including 146 children, the Health Ministry said.
In its daily update, the ministry said 59 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, while 386 people were injured, bringing the total number of injuries to 165,312.
The ministry also said 112 people were injured by Israeli army fire while seeking humanitarian aid in the past 24 hours.
According to the ministry, at least 2,497 aid seekers were killed and over 18,294 others wounded by the Israeli army since May 27.
It confirmed three new fatalities over the past 24 hours, one of them a child, caused by severe malnutrition, bringing the famine-linked death toll since October 2023 to 428, including 146 children.
The ministry said at least 150 Palestinians, among them 31 children, have died of hunger since August, when the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared famine in Gaza City.
The IPC warned that the crisis would spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis in central and southern Gaza by the end of September
