Starmer calls for Israel and Hezbollah to ‘pull back from the brink’

The Prime Minister called for ‘restraint and de-escalation at the border between Lebanon and Israel’.

The Prime Minister as called for restraint and de-escalation between Israel and Lebanon (Hussein Malla/AP) (AP)

Sir Keir Starmer has called for parties in the Middle East to “pull back from the brink” and for a ceasefire in Gaza amid rising tensions between Hezbollah and Israel.

The Prime Minister told the Labour Party conference: “This is a time when great forces demand a decisive government prepared to face the future. We can see that again in the Middle East today.

“So I call again for restraint and de-escalation at the border between Lebanon and Israel. Again, all parties to pull back from the brink.

I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of... the hostages, and a recommitment to the two-state solution, a recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel

Sir Keir Starmer

“I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of… the hostages, and a recommitment to the two-state solution, a recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.

“And that’s the message I will take to the UN General Assembly when I travel there later today, alongside our steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.”

Labour has faced pressure to suspend arms export licences to Israel after a UK assessment found there was a “clear risk certain military exports to Israel might be used in violations of international humanitarian law”. The Government suspended around 30 licences from a total of approximately 350 earlier this month.

During Sir Keir’s speech, a protester shouted “children of Gaza” from the crowd.

The Prime Minister replied: “While he’s been protesting, we’ve been changing the party. That’s why we’ve got a Labour Government.”

The Youth Demand protest group claimed responsibility for a separate protest outside the conference venue in Liverpool earlier on Tuesday, when activists spray-painted the words “genocide conference” onto Labour hoarding, while protesters were ejected from the conference hall after they shouted “we are still selling arms to Israel” during Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ speech on Monday.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged rocket fire and air strikes throughout Monday and Tuesday.

Defence Secretary John Healey has left his party’s conference to chair a Cobra meeting in London amid rising tensions in the Middle East, the PA news agency understands.

Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad told reporters on Tuesday that 1,835 people have been wounded in Israeli air strikes since the start of the week and Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the death toll had reached 558 during that period, including 50 children. The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched 250 rockets into Israel on Monday.

According to the Gaza health ministry, more than 41,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict since Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7 last year, killing 1,200 and taking 250 hostage.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, that “Israel’s war is not with (the people of Lebanon), it’s with Hezbollah”.

In the address to people in Lebanon, Mr Netanyahu added: “Please, get out of harm’s way now. Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”

Mr Healey’s Cabinet colleague David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has made repeated calls for UK nationals to leave Lebanon since late July, when he warned they risked “becoming trapped in a warzone”.

Mr Lammy has also left Liverpool for New York, where he met foreign ministers from across the G7 on Tuesday.

Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani, who chaired the G7 meeting, wrote: “The G7 members reiterated their condemnation of Hamas’s horrendous attacks on October 7 2023.

“One hundred and one hostages are still in the hands of Hamas.

“They noted with deep concern the trend of escalatory violence in the Middle East and its repercussions on regional stability, and on the lives of civilians shattered by this conflict, from the Gaza Strip to the Israeli-Lebanese Blue Line.

“Actions and counter-reactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences.

“They called for a stop to the current destructive cycle while emphasising that no country stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.

“They expressed their deep concern about the situation along the Blue Line.”

According to Mr Tajani, the delegates also “called on all parties to fully comply with international law, including international humanitarian law” and “expressed their deep alarm for the heavy toll this conflict has taken on civilians, deploring all losses of civilian lives equally and noting with great concern that, after nearly a year of hostilities and regional instability, it is mostly civilians, including women and children, who are paying the highest price”.