Plaid Cymru supports calls for immediate recall of Parliament over Gaza crisis

Plaid Cymru has joined with parties from Northern Ireland and Scotland in supporting calls for the immediate recall of Parliament to discuss the deteriorating situation in Gaza.

In a letter to UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, the parties also call for a diplomatic intervention to end the conflict, an end to arms sales to Israel, and the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid.

Parties joining the SDLP and Plaid Cymru in signing the letter include the SNP, Sinn Fein, Alliance, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Greens and People before Profit.

Plaid Cymru leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, and Plaid Cymru’s Westminster Group Leader, Liz Saville-Roberts MP, previously wrote to the Prime Minister on the 23rd July, calling on the UK Government to impose an immediate arms embargo on Israel and to recognize Palestinian statehood.

‘Horrifying’

Plaid Cymru leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, said:”We’re proud to stand alongside other parties in calling for the immediate recall of Parliament to discuss the horrifying events unfolding in Gaza. It is incumbent on the UK Government to make clear that Israel’s actions will not be tolerated, and to take urgent action to bring an end to the daily suffering being inflicted on the people of Gaza.”

The party’s Westminster Group Leader, Liz Saville-Roberts MP, said: “Plaid Cymru has long-called for the UK Government to do everything within their power to halt the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Recalling Parliament will give MPs the opportunity to scrutinize the UK Government’s insufficient action in the face of an ever-increasing international and humanitarian crisis, and to demand immediate, decisive steps to whereby the UK can contribute to bringing an end to the devastation.”

‘Failure’

The leader of the SDLP, Claire Hanna MP said: “Every day the situation in Gaza is getting worse. Israel has shown they will stop at nothing to wipe this place and its people from the map and the failure of the UK Government and other world leaders to hold them accountable has only emboldened them.

“Today the SDLP is proud to lead other parties from across these islands to say – no more. Our voice may be the only tool we have – but together it is a powerful one in highlighting the failure of the Prime Minister and his government to protect the innocent people of Gaza from the worst humanitarian crisis of our times.

“We are demanding an immediate recall of Parliament and an intervention that sends a clear message to the Israeli Government that this cannot continue. The Prime Minister must make it clear to Netanyahu that the UK government will no longer standby while he carries out genocide against the people of Gaza.

“The PM must use every lever at his disposal to end the suffering in Gaza. From the banning of arms sales to Israel and the immediate supply of humanitarian aid. The people of Gaza have no time to lose, and we stand united with other parties today in calling on the UK government to take action, at long last.”

New offensive

The letter to the Prime Minister comes as Israel announced on Saturday that it is preparing to move Palestinians from combat zones to southern Gaza as plans move ahead for a military offensive in some of the territory’s most populated areas.

The military said it had no comment on when the mass movement of Palestinians would begin, but Defence Minister Israel Katz said on social media that “we are now in the stage of discussions to finalise the plan to defeat Hamas in Gaza”.

Meanwhile, anxious families of Israeli hostages called for a “nationwide day of stoppage” in Israel on Sunday to express growing frustration over 22 months of war.

Families of hostages fear the coming offensive further endangers the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, just 20 of them thought to still be alive.

The families and supporters have pressed the government for a deal to stop the war – a call that some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs have also made in recent weeks.

“I want to believe that there is hope, and it will not come from above, it will come only from us,” said Dana Silberman Sitton, sister of Shiri Bibas and aunt of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, who were killed in captivity.

She spoke at a weekly rally in Tel Aviv, along with Pushpa Joshi, sister of kidnapped Nepalese hostage Bipin Joshi, a student seized from a kibbutz.