Government under pressure as Labour members vote to accept Israel committing genocide in Gaza
Labour Party members have voted to accept that a genocide is taking place in Gaza by Israel – putting pressure on the government to also do so.
Members voted to approve an emergency motion at Labour’s conference to accept the findings of the UN commission of inquiry, which nearly two weeks ago concluded Israel “has committed genocide”.
Israel has repeatedly denied this and called the report “distorted and false”.
The vote will place further pressure on the government after Sir Keir Starmer and his ministers have refused to declare a genocide is taking place.
They have argued that the issue is a matter for the courts, with Israel fighting a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in which the country is accused of genocide.
After the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory released its report, the UK government said its official position is that it “has not concluded that Israel is acting with that [genocidal] intent”.
The report found there are reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out since the start of the war with Hamas in 2023.
They are: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births.
Although other UN bodies and personnel have previously linked Israel’s actions with allegations of genocide, it was the first time any UN body has claimed to have made a definitive judgement.
The world’s leading association of genocide scholars, as well as several Israeli human rights organisations, had already accused the country of genocide before the UN commission report.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
