By Judi Conner | Thu 26th June 2025
After more than a year and a half of bombardment, siege, and systematic starvation in Gaza, it is becoming harder than ever to grasp the true scale of Israel’s atrocities there. Not because the evidence is lacking, but because the horrors have become so appallingly routine.
Since March, when Netanyahu abrogated the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, and effectively curtailed the further release of Israeli hostages, the Israeli military has killed almost 6,000 Palestinians, bringing the total Palestinian death toll to 56,000. Day after day, dozens of Palestinians are killed by Israeli soldiers while in their homes, in shelters, or in the queue for aid. Critical infrastructure has been destroyed, attacks on medics, aid workers and journalists have become commonplace, and famine is no longer a looming threat but a pervasive reality.
This week, Defence for Children International and Doctors Against Genocide co-published a report that gives a harrowing account of Israel’s weaponisation of starvation against Palestinian children in Gaza. It documents in unflinching detail 33 cases of child starvation, nine of them fatal, caused by Israel’s systematic obstruction of humanitarian access to the Strip. Newborns, infants and children with chronic illnesses were found to be especially vulnerable to the effects of malnutrition and dehydration, and the report concludes that Israel is using child starvation as a method of genocide, with catastrophic consequences for existing and future generations.
These findings come alongside near-daily massacres at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food distribution sites. More than 450 Palestinians have now been killed while attempting to access lifesaving supplies. Desperate, hungry civilians are being forced to choose between starvation or Israeli gunfire. These are clear war crimes, as the UN human rights office recognised this week, and the UK should be using every lever available to stop them.
Meanwhile, in the illegally-occupied West Bank, settler violence, military raids, and illegal settlement expansion continue unchecked. Since mid-June, villages and towns have been locked down, new checkpoints installed, and movement heavily restricted. Israeli forces have ramped up their operations in Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarem, using regional tensions as cover to escalate repression.
Mass arrests have also quietly surged. Last week alone, over 160 Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces during military raids across various towns in the West Bank. Nearly 10,000 Palestinians are currently imprisoned by Israel – including children and medics – many held without charge or trial in overcrowded and degrading conditions that amount to systemic abuse. We rightly hear calls for the release of Israeli hostages but rarely is that call accompanied by an equivalent demand for justice for Palestinian prisoners. When one set of lives is blatantly treated as more valuable than another, it reinforces the deep racial inequalities underpinning the conflict.
This is a campaign of mass killing, dispossession and collective punishment on a scale that demands not just condemnation, but action. For a brief moment, the UK Government finally seemed willing to take a stand – but that window has closed. The UK has failed to prevent arms sales to Israel and continues to provide military support, despite mounting legal concerns. It has sanctioned two Israeli ministers but stopped short of sanctioning all those responsible for war crimes. It has suspended trade negotiations with Israel, yet continues to permit trade with illegal settlements, in direct violation of its obligations under the ICJ’s July 2024 advisory opinion. Though increasingly uneasy on its back benches, Labour has consistently stopped short of implementing meaningful sanctions.
The recent focus on Israel’s confrontation with Iran has further encouraged this drift. Ministers are again speaking of Israel as an ally, returning to familiar narratives of defence and strategic partnership, while the daily horrors in Gaza and the West Bank once more fade into the background.
This is precisely where the Liberal Democrats must act. We are not in government, but we are not powerless. As the third largest party, we can use our platform in parliament to force Palestine back onto the agenda. Labour is heading for a major backbench revolt over plans to restrict disability benefits. That unrest reflects a deeper discomfort across the party, not least over Palestine, on which many MPs are increasingly uneasy with the leadership’s cautious stance. As we saw during the debacle over the SNP’s ceasefire motion in February 2024, a well-judged intervention can expose Labour’s divisions and compel decisive action. If the SNP could force a vote, so can we. Doing so would not only force the Government’s hand, but it could also provide a political boost for the Liberal Democrats at a time where there is clear public support for a ceasefire and arms embargo.
Liberal Democrats have long been vocal in calling for an arms embargo, comprehensive sanctions, and legal accountability. But if we want to stop the appalling suffering of Palestinians and end Britain’s ongoing support for this war, then words alone will not suffice. We must be willing to take risks, force confrontations, and make it impossible for Labour MPs to do nothing.
* Judi Conner is a former journalist, a member in North Norfolk and a committee member of Lib Dem Friends of Palestine.