Mosques in Preston have asked local Labour councillors to call for the resignation of Sir Keir Starmer due to the Labour leader not calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

In statement released on Tuesday, the mosques said they had been left with ‘no option’ following the 'silence' from the party leadership.

It is an unprecedented step by the group of mosques in calling on local representatives to quit over the issue, and comes as several councillors in Blackburn and Burnley have quit both the Labour and Conservative parties over the issue.

Both parties have backed humanitarian pauses as opposed to a ceasefire.

A message  read: “The mosques of Preston can no longer tolerate the continued silence of our leaders to the genocide and human rights abuses that we are witnessing every day from Gaza and the occupied West Bank in Palestine.

“As such we are left with no option but to take unprecedented measures to ensure that we get an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

“We, the mosques of Preston in Lancashire demand that all our local Labour councillors commit to signing a joint letter calling for the immediate resignation of the Labour leader Keir Starmer."

The statement was signed by all the mosques.

Pressure has grown on Labour councillors to themselves resign. Many Muslims have focused their energies on their local representatives most of whom happen to be Labour politicians.

Since the latest violence between Israel and Hamas erupted following a terrorist attack by Hamas militants on October 7, thousands of innocent Israelis and Palestinians have been killed or injured in the fighting.

The Government, and Labour leader Keir Starmer, have called for humanitarian pauses in the region to allow aid to reach civilians in Gaza and the release of hostages, as opposed to a ceasefire.

It is feared a ceasefire would give Hamas the opportunity to regroup, or that the terrorist group would not honour the ceasefire if one was called.

More than 70 per cent of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the violence, with Israel moving into and surrounding Gaza City as part of its offensive against Hamas, following a weeks-long aerial bombardment which Israel said was targeted on Hamaz strongholds, but resulted in thousands of innocent civilians being killed.

The G7 nations called for the “unimpeded” delivery of food, water, medicine and fuel, and for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting.

More than 160 Palestinians have also been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.