Year of Israel-Hamas war hit community ties: UK’s PM Starmer

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday called for a ceasefire in Gaza and restraint by all parties, saying the year-long Israel-Hamas conflict had affected community relations in Britain.

“The sparks light touchpapers in our own communities here at home,” Starmer wrote in the Sunday Times ahead of the anniversary of the Palestinian militant group’s unprecedented October 7 attack against Israel which sparked the war.

“Israel and the Middle East are not just inseparable from our nation’s history. They have a deep relationship with our multicultural society,” Starmer said, pointing out that “millions have family ties to the region.”

Since the October 7 attack Israel has subjected the Gaza Strip to relentless bombardment.

In the last two weeks, the conflict has spread to Israeli attacks in Lebanon against Hamas’s fellow Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, as well as ballistic missiles fired by Iran on Israel.

While Starmer said the UK would “stand with Israel in the face of Iranian aggression,” he also cautioned that “a better future will not be won by traumatizing, orphaning and displacing another generation.”

“The anniversary of the October 7 attacks should remind us of the cost of political failure,” he added. “No security will be found in greater destabilization.”

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,870 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the territory’s health ministry and described as reliable by the UN.

The run-up to the attack’s anniversary has been marked by marches around the world including in London, where a pro-Palestinian demonstration was largely peaceful but 15 arrests were made. Three were arrested after tensions between the main march and counter-protesters.

Denouncing the rise of “vile hatred” against Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK over the past year, Starmer said: “Our differences and diversity should bind us together more strongly, not drive us apart.”

UK faith leaders also said on Sunday the anniversary should be an occasion for the public to reject “prejudice and hatred in all its forms.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and the chairman of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board Imam Qari Asim wrote an open letter to say they “stand united in our grief.”

“In these challenging times, we must also reject those who seek to divide us,” the joint letter said.

“Anti-Jewish hate and anti-Muslim hate have no place in the UK today.”