Kate Hollern MP has called for an immediate ceasefire as hundreds more have been killed in Israeli war plane attacks this week.

The Blackburn MP revealed she has written to the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, to ask him to support calls for a ceasefire and also said ‘no government can stand by’ as innocent people are killed.

She added that, as parliament is in recess until the King's Speech on November, it is not possible to raise issues in the House of Commons at present.

The repeated calls for a ceasefire came after a number of weeks of growing pressure from the local Labour party. Seven Labour councillors have already resigned from the Labour Party in Blackburn over the party’s refusal to condemn the bombing of Gaza.

Audley and Queen’s Park councillor Salim Sidat is the latest to quit and joins Cllr Suleman Khonat, Cllr Adbul Patel, Cllr Mustafa Desai, Cllr Saj Ali, Samim Desai and Cllr Salma Patel who said they could no longer support the party.

Some of the councillors handed in damning resignation letters saying they could no longer support a leadership which was endorsing ‘genocide on a people’.

In the letter to Mr Cleverly, the Blackburn MP says: “I have now received 2,000 e-mails since the Israeli Defence Force responded to the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7. 

She said: “I have repeatedly stated that the state of Palestine must be recognised as independent and autonomous from Israel and that its existence must be peacefully accepted by those states surrounding.

“The actions of Israel, not only in recent weeks but over many years - taking land from Palestinians and depriving those people of their capacity to exist in a free Palestinian state – have without doubt caused deep-rooted anger and upset.

“In the end though, violence will not produce a solution that is in anyone’s interests and I therefore repeat my call – will you, like I, support an immediate and absolute cessation of violence so that aid can get to where it is needed, hostages to be released and the various parties involved to be able to get round the negotiating table?

“The situation in Gaza is increasingly desperate and it breaks my heart to see the news day in and out of innocent lives lost. No government should stand by and watch this happen.”

Sir Keir Starmer, is also being pressured by his MPs but has yet to firmly condemn the actions of the Israeli army.

The Labour leader has resisted pressure from within his own party to call for a ceasefire, instead urging both parties in the conflict to agree to a humanitarian pause to allow aid in and people out of the war zone.

Shadow ministers are among senior Labour figures demanding a change in his stance, with frontbencher Alex Cunningham calling for an “immediate ceasefire” less than an hour before Sir Keir delivered his speech.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also criticised Sir Keir, claiming he had made “hurtful” comments about the conflict and there was “repair work to do” to mend bridges with Muslim communities.