Five Labour councillors in Oldham from Muslim backgrounds have signed an open letter calling on the Labour Party to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The councillors, four of whom are Cabinet members, have joined a growing list of over 250 Muslim Labour councillors across the country in writing to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner MP, who represents Failsworth and Ashton.

The five councillors who signed the letter are deputy leader of Oldham Council Cllr Shaid Mushtaq, Cabinet member for finance Cllr Abdul Jabbar, Cllr Mohon Ali, Cabinet member for education and skills, deputy Cabinet member for business and enterprise Cllr Mohammed Nazrul Islam, and Cllr Abdul Malik.

Speaking about why he signed the letter, Cllr Mushtaq said: “It’s a very emotive issue and passions are running high. In this letter I found it very balanced and the fact it called it a terrorist attack.

“It’s a cry for humanitarian aid, a cry for humanity really to come forward in what is a brutal conflict where innocent men, women and children are being slaughtered.

“Families of Israeli hostages are saying we don’t want death of innocent people because we’re worried about our own families. Most people in both places want peace.”

Cllr Malik, meanwhile, explained why he signed the letter yesterday as he called for aid workers to carry out vital work in the city.

He said: “It’s an important issue because there’s a lot of innocent people that need our help and need the help of our community.

“Because of the war and the bombardments going on there aid people can’t work, so we need a ceasefire for aid workers to go there.

“It’s a nice letter, we do condemn what’s happened there, Hamas was wrong to attack we condemn that, we don’t support that, we condemn the attack by Hamas on the Israeli territory.”

He continued: “We don't want to see civilians now being attacked in Gaza so we need a ceasefire. A lot of people have lost their lives who have nothing to do with the attacks."

While Cllr Islam added: “This issue is very important to us.”

 

The letter was organised by the Labour Muslim Network, which described it as “an unprecedented letter of unity from Muslim Labour representatives shows the strength of feeling throughout the nation and in our communities.”

It said: “As Labour councillors elected to serve our constituents, the message we have been hearing repeatedly over the past two weeks is simple, people just want to end the bloodshed and the loss of innocent life.

“No nation, no people or community should have to endure collective punishment and the same should be the case for the Palestinian people.”

It added: “We are also clear that hostages held captive must also be returned to their families safely.”

Cllrs Ali and Jabbar have been contacted for comment.