City councillors have united to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages.

Members across the political divide also spoke out on the suffering experienced by innocent civilians on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East, as well as the rise in Islamophobic and anti-Semitic hate crime in the UK.

They backed a motion at Thursday's full council meeting, which was presented by leader Jane Ashworth. It stated: "The council unequivocally condemns in the strongest possible terms Hamas' unjustifiable attacks against Israeli citizens on 7 October 2023.

"Council further agrees that Israel's killing of innocent civilians and the bombing of hospitals and places of worship in Gaza is counter-productive to peace, wrong and must stop. Council would value the International Criminal Court to investigate the conduct of all parties in this conflict."

Councillors spoke out on the suffering experienced by innocent civilians on both sides of the conflict (Nub News).

Councillor Ashworth said: "I think the situation in Israel and Palestine is important on a humanitarian level and it's also important to the living, breathing nature of our city. We have hard-won community cohesion in our city; we have not seen the Islamophobia or anti-Semitism that have been seen in other cities and we urge everybody in our city not to let the tragedy of Israel/Palestine to come between us and prevent us from working together on matters of mutual concern.

"An example of that is the fact this motion today has come from the ruling Labour group but also our colleagues on the opposition bench in the Conservative Party. We want to push forward with the idea that we can work together on issues that unite us.

"The motion itself calls for a ceasefire, calls for a return of all the hostages and it calls for a safe route for humanitarian aid to get into Gaza. It also recognises – and I feel very strongly about this – that Hamas' pogrom (organised massacre) against innocent Israeli citizens triggered the deluge and it also favours an international court's adjudication on the behaviour of all parties in the war.

"There is one other thing that unites us here. For most people that I have ever met, their driving ambition and hope is to see peace and justice for everyone in the Middle East – and at this particular minute those who live in Israel and Palestine.

"Both of those two peoples should have the right to live in secure boundaries in a two-state situation. I'm sure that everyone in our city will understand and agree with us that we hope to see a resolution to the conflict, we hope that community cohesion in our city is not destroyed and we hope to see a rebuilding of the infrastructure in Gaza so that people can start to rebuild their lives so they are in a position to negotiate that two-state solution."

Fellow councillors applauded in the chamber after the motion was presented. It was seconded by Conservative member Councillor Faisal Hussain.

He said: "As you will all be aware, the situation is heartbreaking. Whilst I condemn the attacks on 7th October and the killing of innocent Israeli civilians, I also condemn the atrocities that have been inflicted upon the people of Gaza.

"We have seen 1,400 Israeli deaths and over 20,000 Palestinian deaths. For a lot of people it is easy to conflate Hamas with Gaza.

"We have 2.2 million people – half of which are children – crowded in 141 square miles so they automatically become the victims of Israeli airstrikes. It's so densely populated it's like living in an open-air prison – families are living in horrific conditions.

"Across the world, people are asking for this bloodshed to stop and the Westminster bubble need to do more. I am very disappointed by the words of the former Home Secretary and how she has described those who are peacefully protesting as hate marches – people in this country have lost their lives for us to have the fundamental right to freedom and protest.

"Rules are in place to protect people in times of war, however rules have been broken and international laws have been breached many times. We shouldn't stay silent on atrocities like this, regardless of background, and our communities want us to be the voice of the voiceless.

Councillors backed a motion at last week's full council meeting, presented by leader Cllr Jane Ashworth (LDRS).

"We have seen an increase in Islamophobic and anti-Semitic hate across the country. And we need to do everything to maintain that hard-won community cohesion and ensure safety for all our communities here in Stoke-on- Trent."

Lord Mayor Majid Khan said: "It has been demonstrated that all members are in favour of this motion and everyone has echoed the same level of sentiment in connection with the hostilities taking place in Gaza and Israel. We are all here together condemning the innocent lives being lost, whether they are on the Palestinian or Israeli sides.

"I'm very glad we are coming together in agreement to say that we need to call on our leadership to find a permanent solution to this issue that has been going on since 1948. A lot of innocent lives have been lost over the years."

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