Lib Dem MP Layla Moran's family 'exhausted and traumatisted' after escaping Gaza

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said members of her family have escaped Gaza and are now in Bahrain, but are “exhausted and traumatised” after their journey.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Moran, who is of British-Palestinian descent, said the news was “bittersweet” and called for an immediate ceasefire.

She wrote: “It is bittersweet. Sweet because they are safe. Finally. Bitter because they shouldn’t have had to leave and that so many who do want to leave can’t or die trying.

"We need a ceasefire to protect all NOW.”

She continued: “We know we are lucky. They’re in Manama to be with their immediate family and are grateful to Bahrain for giving them sanctuary.

“They’re exhausted and traumatised. I look forward to Zooming with them in the next few days.”

Ms Moran has previously spoken in the House of Commons about her extended family who had been staying in the Holy Family Parish Church in Zeitoun in the war-torn Gaza strip.

As reports of famine and lack of hygiene infrastructure began to emerge from Gaza, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon described the conditions faced by her family.

She told the Commons in December: “There is no electricity, there is no clean water and the update that I had last night was that they are down to their last can of corn.

“I am told after pressure that food has been delivered, but they have not seen it, and when this began a week ago, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers ordered these civilians to evacuate against their will.”

The government has been facing increasing calls to halt arms sales to Israel after the death of three British aid workers after a deadly attack by the IDF.

Seven workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity were killed in Gaza on Monday evening, with Britons John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, among those who died.

WCK founder Jose Andres claimed the Israeli military knew his aid workers’ movements and targeted them “systematically, car by car”.

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