Preston mosques call for Labour councillors to sign letter demanding Starmer resignation over Gaza

  • Mukhtar Master from Preston's Faith Covenant

Twenty mosques in Preston are asking local Labour councillors to demand the resignation of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in "last ditch attempt to get some semblance of humanity".

It's over Sir Keir Starmer's decision to refuse to back a ceasefire in Gaza.

So far, the Labour Leader has only supported calls for a humanitarian pause to allow civilians to flee the areas being targeted by Israeli military operations.

The joint message from the mosques read: “The mosques of Preston can no longer tolerate the continued silence of our leaders to the genocide and human rights abuses that we are witnessing every day from Gaza and the occupied West Bank in Palestine.

“As such we are left with no option but to take unprecedented measures to ensure that we get an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

Preston mosques give Labour councillors 'deadline' to call for Sir Keir Starmer to quit Credit: The Mosques of Preston, UK

“We, the mosques of Preston in Lancashire demand that all our local Labour councillors commit to signing a joint letter calling for the immediate resignation of the Labour leader Keir Starmer."

Mukhtar Master, of The Faith Covenant in Preston, said: "The policy as it currently stands is unacceptable when you have so many deaths in Gaza.

"The World Health Organisation have said that 160 children die everyday, and that, for any society is totally unacceptable.

"Hence, we need to put as much pressure on the Labour Party to change its policy position on this one."

The statement was signed by all the mosques. Preston Council's ruling Labour group says it supports the mosques' position but says it has limited capacity to affect national and international decision-making.

A month of relentless bombardment in Gaza has killed more than 10,500 Palestinians – two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

More than 2,300 are believed to have been buried by rubble after strikes that in some cases have demolished entire city blocks.

More than 70% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have already left their homes.

The G7 nations called for the “unimpeded” delivery of food, water, medicine and fuel, and for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting.

More than 160 Palestinians have also been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The statement issued by The Mosques of Preston sets a deadline of 5pm on Friday 10 November.

Mukhtar Master said: "The only reason we have a deadline is because there are people being killed everyday.

"For us, really, it's just a last-ditch attempt to try and get some semblance of humanity here.

"For the councillors, it will be something that will be remembered by their electorates as to what they did in relation to this."